Mail can use a lot of space on a Mac. Over time, photos, PDFs and other attachments accumulate, particularly when you use several email accounts. You can clear Mail storage by finding the largest items and removing emails and attachments you no longer require. Then adjust the download settings to help keep the space under control.
How can you see the amount of space used by the Mail app?
In macOS Ventura or later, open the Apple menu and choose System Settings > General > Storage. Look for Mail in the breakdown. In previous versions of macOS, storage information is under About This Mac in the Apple menu. Apple provides further details in its guide to freeing up Mac storage.
The Mail application itself is only part of the picture. Emails and their attachments also consume disk space once downloaded. Thankfully, we made a guide for Mac to streamline this process.
Your Mac’s available free disk space and your email account’s storage allowance are two completely different limits. Deleting a temporary download from your Mac will not automatically decrease the amount of space being consumed in the cloud through your iCloud Mail, Gmail or another email provider’s inbox.
Why does Mail use so much space?
Attachments of considerable size are one reason why Mail consumes so much disk space. Another reason is that having multiple email accounts produces a significant amount of local data. Although you deleted an email, it may continue to reside in your Trash. Saving an attachment manually may also leave copies both in your mailbox and in Downloads.
There is no defined quantity of disk space that you’ll recover. If you primarily receive and send brief emails, your savings might be negligible. However, if you regularly attach presentations, photographs, etc., you could potentially recover substantially more disk space. Start with your largest files before working through smaller messages.
Automatically manage Mail downloads
A Mac maintenance tool can assist you in finding your downloaded attachments. Before you approve a tool’s suggestion to delete a file, review the tool’s recommendations carefully. A tool identifying a file as a candidate for deletion doesn’t imply that you no longer need the file. The built-in Mail steps outlined below can also be completed without purchasing a maintenance tool.
Mail has an option to remove temporary files. Open Mail > Settings > General and look for Remove unedited downloads. Set a retention period based on how frequently you work with attachments. Any files you deliberately saved to another location need separate consideration.
For future attachments, open Mail > Settings > Accounts, choose your account and check Account Information. Where Download Attachments is available, None means Mail will not automatically download certain file types. Media files such as images, PDFs, audio and video are still downloaded. Changing this setting does not erase attachments already on your computer.
Delete attachments from selected messages
Select a message containing an attachment you no longer need in your mailbox. If you wish to preserve a copy of the file, save it separately prior to proceeding. Before removing attachments, confirm that your saved copy opens properly. Select Message > Remove Attachments.
Note that the body of the message remains intact; however, you will see a notification indicating that attachments were removed from the messages. Select multiple messages and apply the same command to them after confirming that your selections are correct.
Apple’s instructions for saving and deleting Mail attachments provide a vital piece of information for IMAP users. Removed attachments are deleted from the mail server associated with your account and therefore are unrecoverable there. Thus, this is not merely a method of eliminating excess storage from a disposable local cache.
Be cautious with POP accounts and those emails stored exclusively on your Mac; you should not assume that another copy of the email exists online. If you would like to maintain an archived record of your mailbox content, navigate to your mailbox list and select the desired mailbox. Next, choose Mailbox > Export Mailbox and save the archive to a location you can back up.
Check Mail downloads in Finder
Temporary copies of attachments may be found in Mail Downloads as well. Quit Mail, open Finder and choose Go > Go to Folder. Enter:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads/If the folder exists, browse its contents and delete only recognised files you no longer require. The location can vary depending on your macOS version. Do not delete the wider Mail library or mailbox folders as a shortcut.
Removing a file from this directory may delete a downloaded copy instead of the attachment associated with the original message. As opposed to choosing Remove Attachments from within Mail, deleting a file here represents a distinct action.
Delete junk mail and empty deleted items
Open your Junk mailbox and review the emails that were incorrectly routed as spam. Move any emails worth retaining out of Junk before selecting Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. Likewise, review Trash as well, and select Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items for your preferred account.
These actions will permanently erase any items identified as selected. Synchronizing accounts across devices may result in changes to what appears on your other devices as well. Verify each account individually before clearing all deleted items since one mailbox may appear cluttered.
Find copies of manually saved attachments in Downloads as well. If you want to keep several files together, our guide to compressing common file types covers archive options. Keep a usable copy of important documents before removing duplicates.
Keep Mail storage manageable
After completing your clean-up process, revisit storage and wait for some time for the numbers to update. If Mail continues consuming excessive disk space, examine another account or a mailbox that contains many attachments before repeating similar processes.
Revisit attachments occasionally, erase confirmed junk and save important documents in folders you back up. A small amount of routine sorting can be easier than a big clear-out.
Focus on files you recognize; you do not need to delete all of your historical emails to better manage your mail.
Last Updated: November 5, 2026
