#Clean up mac log files mac os
What are the User Log Files on Mac OS anyway?Īs previously stated, most user log files are logs of app crashes or app errors. Maybe there is a placebo effect to the user with logs, but unlike rebooting and other system maintenance there really isn’t a benefit to this for most non-developers. Some Mac users may trash their logs anyway perhaps as part of a series of manual cleaning tasks like clearing out caches and temporary files along with emptying web browser caches in Safari or in Chrome, rebooting, and as part of some general system maintenance. While removing and deleting log files has nearly no practical benefit, we get asked about this with some regularity. It’s very rare for log files to expand to some unruly size or be a burden, so it’s unlikely that you will restore any meaningful disk space by deleting log files, which may take up a couple of megabytes or maybe even just kilobytes. Selectively choose the logs you want to inspect or delete, or alternatively you can select and trash them all.Enter the following directory path exactly, including the tilde:.From the Mac Finder, pull down the “Go” menu and choose “Go To Folder”.Do not skip backing up a Mac before removing any file.
#Clean up mac log files how to
How to Clear User Logs from Mac OSĭon’t forget to back up your Mac before beginning.
If you simply want to view logs, opening the Console app is generally a better approach. Similar to clearing cache and cleaning temporary files on a Mac, there is no practical benefit to deleting logs for the average Mac user and the vast majority should not do so. Despite what some third party utilities may claim, deleting user level logs is not a necessary task and nor should this be encouraged. These logs are almost entirely crash and error logs for particular apps. To be perfectly clear, these are not logs of user activity, or anything of the sort. This is really aimed at advanced Mac users who know what they’re doing with these log files and why they might want to delete them, it is not aimed at the average or novice user at all. We’ll show you how to access the raw log files and clear these user level logs from a Mac.