Macs are sold in
more than 100 countries around the world, many of them with different
languages. If a software developer wants to target more than the English
speaking world, they need to provide a localised version of
their applications. Rather than having a different app for each country,
they normally do this by having one app with a choice of languages.
When you install an app, you install all these extra languages too.
These extra languages can take up a surprising amount of disk space
Most
people only use one or, at most, two languages on their computer. This
means that there is often a large number of unused language files stored
on your Mac. Depending on the apps you use, these files can get quite
big. Professional applications are often the main offenders; not only
are they large applications to begin with, but they are also localised
to the most different languages.
I routinely clear a few
gigabytes of unused languages when I run Monolingual. For example,
running it for this tutorial I freed up almost one and a half gigabytes.
On a 128GB MacBook Air that is a significant amount of wasted space. If
you are running it for the first time you will likely free up even
more.
Clearing Language Files With Monolingual
Monolingual
is not the only application capable of deleting unused localisations;
you can even do it by hand! It is, however, free and works perfectly so I
will focus on it in this tutorial.
Before starting it is important to backup your Mac. You can use Time Machine, or better yet, something like SuperDuper that clones your hard drive. To begin:
Download Monolingual, mount the .dmg file and drag the application file to the Applications folder.
Navigate to the Applications folder and open Monolingual.
Select
the languages from the list you want to delete. Languages that are
unticked will be kept. I recommend keeping, at a minimum, English and localised language; in my case, despite being in Ireland, that is English (United Kingdom).
Even if you are in a non-English speaking country, it is important to
keep English as some applications do not offer any other languages.
Selecting languages for removal.
Once you have selected the languages you want to delete, click on Remove. Confirm your decision and then enter your password when prompted.
Allow
Monolingual to run for a few minutes. When it is done you will get an
alert informing you how much space has been freed up.
My results.
Excluding Adobe Applications
Fellow Tuts+ author Marius Masalar has
previously had issues with removing the language files from Adobe CS5. I
have had no issues with CS6 or CC. If you want to be safe and not
remove the language files from Adobe's applications, open Monolingual's Preferences using the keyboard shortcut Command-Comma. Click on Add and navigate to the containing folder of the application.
For example, the Adobe Photoshop CC folder if you want to exclude Photoshop. ClickOpen and uncheck the Languages checkbox. Photoshop is now excluded when you run Monolingual. Repeat this for any other applications you have installed. Photoshop being ignored by Monolingual.
Conclusion
In
this quick tip I've shown you a simple way to free up a few gigabytes
of space on your Mac by deleting unused language files with Monolingual.
While a few gigabytes may not seem like much, on Mac's with smaller
SSDs every little helps.
Did you follow this tutorial? Let me know how much space you got back in the comments below.
Unknown
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation.
Medical Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this web site is for general information purposes only. Krobknea makes no representation and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained on or available through this web site, and such information is subject to change without notice. You are encouraged to confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE.