Mac file types: where they collect and how to manage them
Every kind of file has its own habits. Installers pile up in Downloads, screenshots land on the Desktop, videos hide inside libraries, and RAW photos may belong to a catalog that breaks if you move them.
These guides take one kind of file at a time: where it usually ends up on a Mac, how to find every one with Finder, what is safe to remove, and how to preview or shrink it with the tools macOS already has.
8 guides
- PDF files on a Mac: where they pile up and how to find themWhere PDFs collect on a Mac, how to list every PDF by size or date, search inside them, shrink large ones in Preview and clear out duplicate downloads.
- Where screenshots are saved on a Mac, and how to find oneWhere macOS saves screenshots and screen recordings, how to change the folder and format, and how to find a specific screenshot later.
- DMG and PKG installer files on a Mac: what they are and when to delete themWhat .dmg disk images and .pkg installers are, how to install from them properly, how to find old ones, and which are safe to delete.
- Video files on a Mac: where they take up space and how to clear themFind large videos in Movies, Downloads, screen recordings, Photos and Messages, preview them quickly, shrink them with QuickTime and remove what you do not need.
- Pages, Keynote and Numbers files on a Mac: finding, previewing and slimming themWhere Pages, Keynote and Numbers save files, how to find and preview them, recover earlier versions, and reduce the size of large presentations.
- RAW photos on a Mac: viewing, finding and managing camera RAW filesHow macOS handles camera RAW files, how RAW and JPEG pairs work in Photos, how to find RAW files in folders, and how to clear space without breaking a photo catalog.
- HEIC photos on a Mac: what they are and how to convert them to JPEGWhat HEIC files are, why iPhones use them, how to convert HEIC to JPEG with a Finder Quick Action, Preview or Photos, and how to avoid duplicates.
- Zip and other archive files on a Mac: open, create and clean them upHow to open and create zip files on a Mac, handle other archive types, find old archives in Downloads and decide which are safe to delete.