Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I don't keep anything on my Macbook Air; everything is on the cloud. Today I tried to update to Mac OS Big Sur and it turns out my computer doesn't have enough storage. Why is my disk showing as full and how can I clear space? Looking at About this Mac > Storage, it shows Documents are taking up 21 GB (I don't store any documents on this computer) and Other taking up 44 GB??
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
iCloud by default keeps a local copy on your Mac. You can reduce that by turning on Optimize Mac Storage.
See the following from Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
If you need more space on your device, iCloud Drive can help. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud. On macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud. Turn on Optimize Mac Storage. Then your Mac keeps all of your recent files on your computer, but keeps your older ones only in iCloud, ready for you to download when you need them again.
iCloud by default keeps a local copy on your Mac. You can reduce that by turning on Optimize Mac Storage.
See the following from Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
If you need more space on your device, iCloud Drive can help. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud. On macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud. Turn on Optimize Mac Storage. Then your Mac keeps all of your recent files on your computer, but keeps your older ones only in iCloud, ready for you to download when you need them again.
Sounds like you do.
Open the Documents folder. Anything there?
Freeing up space on Macbook Air?
