Deleting photos from Mac is easy, but there is some confusion. For example, does deleting photos in Photos or iPhoto remove the photos from hard drive space on Mac? Is there a convenient way to delete photos to release disk space on Mac?
This post will explain everything you want to know about deleting photos on Mac and introduce a convenient way to clean up the Mac hard drive to release space – MobePas Mac Cleaner, which can delete photos cache, photos & videos of large size, and more to free up Mac space.
How to Delete Photos from Photos/iPhoto on Mac
Apple discontinued iPhoto for Mac OS X in 2014. Most users have migrated from iPhoto to the Photos app. After importing your photos into the Photos app, don’t forget to delete the old iPhoto library to regain your storage space.
Deleting photos from Photos on Mac is similar to deleting them from iPhoto. Since there are more users using the Photos app on macOS, here is how to delete photos from Photos on Mac.
How to Delete Photos on Mac
Step 1. Open Photos.
Step 2. Select the photo(s) you want to delete. To delete multiple photos, press Shift and select the photos.
Step 3. To delete the selected pictures/videos, press the Delete button on the keyboard or right-click Select XX Photos.
Step 4. Click Delete to confirm the deletion.
Note: Select photos and press Command + Delete. This will enable macOS to directly delete the photos without asking for your confirmation.
Another point to note is that deleting photos or videos from Albums doesn’t necessarily mean that the photos are deleted from the Photos library or the Mac hard drive. When you select an image in an album and press the Delete button, the photo is merely removed from the album but still remains in the Photos library. To delete a photo from both the album and the Photos library, use Command + Delete or the Delete option in the right-click menu.
How to Permanently delete photos on Mac
Photos for macOS has Recently Deleted the library to save the deleted photos for 30 days before the photos are permanently deleted. This is thoughtful and allows you to undelete the deleted photos if you regret it. But if you need to regain the free disk space from the deleted photos right away, you don’t want to wait 30 days. Here is how to permanently delete photos on Photos from Mac.
Step 1. On Photos, go to Recently Deleted.
Step 2. Tick the photos you want to delete for good.
Step 3. Click Delete XX Items.
How to Delete Photos library on Mac
When MacBook Air/Pro has low disk space, some users choose to delete the Photos library to reclaim disk space. If the photos are important to you, make sure you have uploaded the photos to iCloud Photos Library or saved them on an external hard drive before cleaning up the entire library. To delete the Photos library on Mac:
Step 1. Go to Finder.
Step 2. Open your system disk > Users > Pictures.
Step 3. Drag the Photos Library you want to delete to the Trash.
Step 4. Empty the Trash.
Some users reported after deleting the Photos library, there is no significant change in the storage when checking About this Mac. If this happens to you, too, don’t worry. It takes time for the macOS to delete the entire Photos library. Give it some time and check the storage later. You’ll see the free space is regained.
How to Delete Photos on Mac in One-Click
Deleting pictures from Photos only removes the pictures in the folder of Photos Library. There are more pictures in the disk drive that are not imported into Photos. To delete photos from your Mac, you can go through all the folders that have images and videos and delete those that you don’t need. Or you can use MobePas Mac Cleaner, which can detect duplicate images and large photos/videos on Mac to free up your disk space. If you need more free space, MobePas Mac Cleaner can also clean system junk such as cache, logs, mail attachments, app data, etc. to give you more free space.
How to Delete photos/videos of large size
One of the most effective ways to free up space on a Mac is to delete photos or videos that are large in size. MobePas Mac Cleaner can help you with that.
Step 1. Click Large & Old Files.
Step 2. Click Scan.
Step 3. All the large files on your Mac, including photos and videos will be found.
Step 4. Select those you don’t need and click Clean to remove them.
How to Clean Photo Cache of Photos/iPhoto Library
Photos or iPhoto library create caches over time. You can delete the photo cache with MobePas Mac Cleaner.
Step 1. Open MobePas Mac Cleaner.
Step 2. Click System Junk > Scan.
Step 3. Select all items and click Clean.
How to Remove Duplicate Photos on Mac
Step 1. Download and Install Mac Duplicate File Finder.
Step 2. Run Mac Duplicate File Finder.
Step 3. Select a location to search for duplicate photos. To delete duplicate photos in the whole hard drive, select your system drive.
Step 4. Click Scan. After scanning, select all the duplicated photos you want to delete and click “Remove”.
Step 5. The photos will be deleted from the disk.