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How to manage snapshots, device backups and Mail data.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 14 October 2026

Three of the biggest things on many Macs belong to Apple: Time Machine's local snapshots, iPhone and iPad backups, and Mail's store. Pangalin Space Manager shows how much space each takes, explains the safe route for each, and offers a direct action only where macOS allows one.

Before you start

• Make sure you have a current backup, such as Time Machine on an external drive, before you delete snapshots or device backups.
• Deleting a local snapshot is permanent. You can no longer go back to that point. Device backups and Mail copies go to the Trash first, so they can come back until you empty it.

Time Machine local snapshots

Local snapshots are restore points Time Machine keeps on your Mac. macOS removes them by itself: hourly ones after 24 hours, and the one from your last backup when the space is needed, which can take days. They're often why space doesn't come back straight after you delete something.

1. Choose Go › Apps (⌘4), then click the Backups tab.
2. Under Local snapshots, read how many there are and how much they hold at most. Click Refresh to list them again.
3. Tick the snapshots you want to delete, or click All but newest. The newest is tagged Newest.
4. Click Delete … selected…, read the confirmation, then click Delete. macOS asks for your password.
5. Wait for the message under the list. Pangalin Space Manager lists the snapshots again and says how many were really deleted and how much space came back so far.

Include the oldest snapshot if you want space back. It shares most of its data with the newer ones, so deleting snapshots in the middle while keeping the oldest frees very little. Pangalin Space Manager reminds you when the oldest isn't ticked.

Rather than choose dates, you can click Thin snapshots… and then Thin snapshots. Pangalin Space Manager asks macOS, through Apple's own tmutil, to thin local snapshots, and macOS decides which go.

Good to know

• Snapshots need a licence. macOS can't say how much space a snapshot holds, so deleting or thinning them can't be counted against your free 5 GB. Seeing them is free.
• Your backups on an external Time Machine drive aren't touched. Only the local copies on your Mac are removed.
• There's no size for each snapshot. The figure shown is the most they hold together, shared with other space macOS can free. Freed space can take a minute or more to show.
• The same snapshots are listed under Snapshots in Free Up Space, and System Data has a Thin Snapshots… button too.
• Fewer snapshots in future: the Backups tab suggests switching Time Machine to weekly or manual backups in System Settings › General › Time Machine, under Options. You'd also have fewer restore points.

iPhone and iPad backups

When you back up an iPhone or iPad to your Mac, the whole backup is kept on the Mac, and each one can take many gigabytes.

1. Choose Go › Free Up Space (⌘2) and click Apple Apps under More ways to free space. Device backups are under Best left where they are; click that heading to show them. Their row shows the total size and the steps for Apple's own route: in Finder, connect the device, then General › Manage Backups.
2. To delete one from Pangalin Space Manager instead, open the full Apple Apps page: on the Dashboard, click Review the rest before deleting under Your next steps, then click Apple Apps.
3. Under Backups on this Mac, each backup shows the device's name and model, when it was last backed up, and its size. Click Delete this backup… next to an old one.
4. Check the device and date in the confirmation, then click Move to Trash.

A backup on your Mac can be the only copy of a device. If the phone is lost or was never backed up to iCloud, deleting it loses everything in it once you empty the Trash. Check the date, and never delete the newest backup of a device you still use.

Mail attachments and mail stores

Mail keeps every message and attachment it has downloaded, plus its search index. Trim it inside Mail: never delete files in ~/Library/Mail by hand, because your mailboxes and Mail's index live together there and removing files corrupts both.

• Mail's own steps. In Free Up Space, Apple Apps and Mail Data under More ways to free space list each mail store with the steps to trim it, for example setting Download Attachments to Recent or None in Mail › Settings › Accounts, deleting the heaviest messages, then Mailbox › Erase Deleted Items so the space comes back. Mail downloads messages again from the server when you open them.
• Opened-attachment copies. Each time you open an attachment, Mail saves a copy in its Mail Downloads folder. On the full Apple Apps page, the Mail card shows Opened-attachment copies with their size. Click Clear copies…, then Move to Trash. The attachments stay in their messages and open again as normal. The same copies are also listed as Mail attachments you opened under Caches in Free Up Space, so a clean-up from there or from the Dashboard can include them; the review sheet says what will happen to them before anything changes.
• A mail app you no longer use. On the full Mail Data page (Dashboard › Review the rest before deleting › Mail Data), a mail app's store can have a Remove data… button. The confirmation says when that app was last opened, and warns you if it may still be in use. The store goes to the Trash. Mail kept only on your Mac (in On My Mac folders) would be lost, so open the app and check first. Outlook's store is never offered while Outlook is in use.

Changed your mind?

Device backups, Mail's attachment copies and mail stores go to the Trash. While Pangalin Space Manager is open, Edit › Undo Move to Trash (⌥⌘Z) puts back the last one. After that, drag it back out of the Trash yourself: Finder's Put Back isn't offered for files an app moves to the Trash. See See what you did and undo it.

Deleted snapshots can't be brought back, and neither can anything once the Trash is emptied. Emptying the Trash is permanent.

Free allowance and licence

• Seeing snapshots, backups and Mail stores is free.
• Deleting device backups, Mail's attachment copies and mail stores counts towards your free 5 GB on each Mac, by what it actually freed. After that, it needs a licence, which is $25 a year.
• Deleting or thinning local snapshots always needs a licence, because macOS can't measure what it frees.

Related guides

• Time Machine local snapshots
• iPhone backups taking up your Mac's space
• How to reduce Mail storage on a Mac
• See where the rest of your disk went
• Free up space safely

Checked against Pangalin Space Manager 3.48.1, 14 October 2026.