Deleting Messages Data from Mac after signing out of iMessage/Messages

Hi AgentOSX,

Starting with macOS 10.13 Ventura, the Messages app does have a Recently Deleted folder. This keeps deleted messages for 30 days, just in case you need to recover a message or conversation.

Use Messages on your Mac - Apple Support

Delete or undelete a message or conversation

To delete a message from your device, Control-click the message, then choose Delete from the shortcut menu. Or select the message and choose Edit > Delete from the menu bar.

To delete a conversation from your device, Control-click the conversation in the sidebar, then choose Delete Conversation from the shortcut menu. Click Delete to confirm.

In macOS Ventura or later, you can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deletion:

1. From the menu bar, choose View > Recently Deleted. 

2. Select a conversation in the sidebar.

3. Click Recover. All of the recoverable messages in that conversation are undeleted.

Even though you recently updated, verify if that folder exists, and if it contains the deleted messages. If so, you can manually delete them, as shown above. Please verify that you no longer wish to retain this information, before doing so, as they can not be recovered.

If you do not see the Recently Deleted folder, the next step is to contact Apple support. They can take a look at what is happening with you.

Get Support

Take care!

Hello AgentOSX,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It sounds like you've taken the right steps so far to clear this storage space. If you haven't already, we would next recommend that you empty the trash. This is mentioned in the following from Free up storage space - Apple Support.

"Did you empty the Trash? When you move a file to the Trash, its storage space doesn't become available until you empty the Trash."

All the best.

Hey AgentOSX,

Restart your computer and see if it impacts the storage reported for Messages. Restarting your computer after deleting large files is an essential part of freeing storage because it helps your computer release the cache from the deleted files.

Storage used by Messages is typically attachments that came in with your texts. See if you can click the info circle in Messages to get more information about the storage space as outlined here:

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click General  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

2. Click Storage on the right.

3. Go to a category on the right and click its Info button  to open it:

You can open the categories that have Info buttons to select and delete files. (In some cases, categories allow you to open an app to delete files while in the app.)

Find and delete files on your Mac

Otherwise, see what you can learn in Finder with these steps:

Open Finder and click on Go from the menu bar while holding down the Option key. Choose Library and find your Messages folder. This will have everything specific to your user content in Messages. You can view by List and sort by Size from here.

This article will help you set it up for easy viewing: Sort and arrange items in the Finder on Mac

Kindest Regards.

Hi AgentOSX,

If there's still a mismatch after following the steps above, we suggest checking things out in safe mode. Safe mode can clear cache as well: Start up your Mac in safe mode. Should it persist, make sure the software on your Mac is updated to the latest version. Outdated software can cause things to misbehave: Update macOS on Mac.

Cheers!

I have the same issue. I deleted all the messages data in attachments folder of Library/Messages and now that messages folder has only 500 MB. I emptied trash, restarted mac, but the Mac storage page in System settings still shows Messages as taking up 14GB. When i click the little "i" icon, nothing is listed.

Like you, i think the space is freed up but i the Storage bar isn't updating properly, must be a bad reference that still thinks Messages is taking up that space.

Have you figured this out?

I'm having the exact same issue. Just spent a couple of hours on the phone with apple support and they have no idea why this is happening. Any luck on your end?

Nope. It’s a bug, hopefully they fix it