I had a user taking up a lot of space on my MacBook, so when I deleted them their files still remained on my machine. I wanted to delete them but obviously I couldn't if their user folder is gone. Any suggestions?
MacBook Air, macOS 13.0
If you deleted a macOS user account from this laptop, then it is possible the data still resides within the "/Users" folder, but it may be hidden by default. Look in the "/Users" folder for a folder or .dmg file with the short user name of the account you deleted. If you don't see it there, then with the Finder window with the focus, press the following keys to toggle on & off the ability to see hidden items in the Finder:
Command + Shift + .
The last of the three keys is the period or dot.
FYI, not all folders have hidden items.
If you already deleted the macOS user account from within the "Users & Groups" System Settings, then it is safe to delete the folder or .dmg file for that former account.
Here is an Apple article for reference on several options to preserve the data from a deleted macOS user account:
Delete a user or group on Mac - Apple Support
If you opted to remove their files when deleting the account, and the user folder is no longer there, then any files specific to that user are gone.
That does not solve my issue, as in System Settings it says that there are other users taking up space on my Mac. I only have one account.
User Deletion Problem (User files still exist after deleting the user)
