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Keeping your Mac up to date with latest updates is absolutely critical to maintaining a safe and secure environment. Updates should be applied as soon as possible by the user.

Unfortunately many users can run into trouble when trying to run an update due to low disk space. This article will address how you can run updates, what to do if you can’t due to low disk space, and what resources are available if you still need help.

Install macOS Update

Before installing a macOS update, please plug your Mac in or make sure you have at least 50% battery. You’ll also need to be connected to a wifi network.

1. Open up your System Settings (System Preferences in older macOS versions)

2. Go to General → Software Update

3. If you have available updates, click Download, Install, or Restart (depending on what options you have)

4. Once the update has been installed, the device will restart and you’ll be able to continue using it as before

Clean Up Disk Space

Having too little free space is the #1 reason why an update might fail to install. Here are some things we recommend cleaning up if you are low on disk space:

Sign out of iMessage

Many users have iPhones, so it’s only natural to want to sign in and sync your iMessages to your Mac. However this has numerous downsides, including using a lot of your precious disk space. To sign out of iMessage:

1. Launch the iMessage app

2. In the top menu, go to Messages → Settings

3. Click the iMessage tab

4. Click Sign Out and confirm

Delete Unneeded Videos, Pictures, and Music

For those who use iMovie, the Movies folder can get quite large. In addition, downloaded music and pictures can also use a good amount of disk space. Before running a macOS update, we recommend going thru your files and deleting those that are no longer needed. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Finder

2. In the top menu, click Go → Home

3. Look in your Movies, Music, and Pictures folders and delete any items you no longer need OR move them to your Onedrive

Remove All Downloaded Files

For the most part, when you download a file you just use it once and then never again. However these downloaded files are not automatically deleted. To delete them:

1. Open Finder

2. Click Downloads in the left sidebar

3. Select all items and move to trash

Empty the Trash Can

After deleting files, don’t forget to empty your trash bin. Until it’s emptied, the files aren’t actually deleted! To empty it, right click (or ctrl-click) on the trash bin on the far right of your dock and choose Empty Trash.

Send All Local Onedrive Files to the Cloud

Nearly all your files should be stored in your Onedrive. However each time you open one, it is downloaded from Onedrive to your computer to allow you to work on it. Over time, this can use a large amount of space. It’s very easy to send those files back to the cloud (at least temporarily) to free up space. To do this:

1. Open Finder

2. In the left sidebar, right-click (or ctrl-click) on Onedrive

3. Click Free Up Space

Still Running into Trouble?

Update not working? Still not enough disk space? Sometimes it just takes a little bit more digging to figure it out. Please open up an Incident IQ Ticket so your building tech can come take a look and figure out what the next best step is!