MacBook storage: 21 GB Documents discrepancy

• You have 21.95GB of Documents on your computer and your Documents Folder only contains 90Kb.
• If you click on the Downloads folder there, you will see probably 743MB of files there that are counted as Documents.
• As you click through the other Folders, the ones that are greyed out are not counted as a Document.
• You can also use the Large Files tab to see the largest Documents and where they are located.

j0ahie wrote:

Sorry I'm kind of confused by what you mean. What do you mean by "the Pictures folder will likely have files that are counted as Documents that do not belong to your Photo Library"?

When you tap on Pictures, you should see the Photo Library greyed out and that is because that storage is being counted as Photos on the previous page before you clicked the info button on the Documents section. Any other Picture that is not counted in your Photos Library is going to be counted as a Document and can be located anywhere on your computer.

I'm also a little confused by "Are you seeing all the folders listed in the File Browser?"

I don't know if you can scroll up or down on the list you have provided in the screenshot to show other locations. I have a section in mine called Library that also contains Documents, so I do not know if it is above what can be seen on the screen or if that was a change made between MacOS 15.6 and 15.7.3. Documents stored in the Library folder would include Cache and Containers that are counted as a Document. I wouldn't recommend a blanket removal in those cases, but certainly those that are shown for previously deleted apps would be warranted.

I have no indication if this is the cause, but hopefully you did not install CleanMyMac as that will make a mess of your file system and known around here as BrickMyMac.

For reference to what I am referring to, here is how it looks on my Mac where I have the Library section and when clicking Photos it shows the Photos Library greyed out, but includes pictures that are counted as Documents stored in other locations.

j0ahie wrote:

I did not install CleanMyMac. I scrolled down and there were like 4 more folders but all of them contain barely anything. I'm still rather confused on why I have 22 GB taken up when there's basically no folders with much data. Do you think I should just bring this to the apple store?

I would first update to Mac OS 15.7.3 if your tagline showing 15.6 is accurate. That would be the first thing Apple would recommend and may save you time at the Apple Store. If you gain any additional insight from Apple, please update as we can all benefit from additional knowledge.

Here is the Support Article that shows what can be included in the Document storage. It appears that it is a catch-all for any other file that cannot be attributed to another category in your Home folder.

The Documents category contains files in your home folder that aren’t included in other categories, such as Pages documents and PDFs. It also includes videos and photos that aren’t managed by your photo library (for example, an image that a friend shares with you using AirDrop).

Change Storage settings on Mac - Apple Support

As stated, I have a Library folder when viewing my Documents and not sure if that is due to being on MacOS 15.7.3. There I see 10GB used by Safari and News and those I would not necessarily want to delete, and cannot confirm/deny if they are being counted as Document storage.

Go back to the File Browser and click on each folder. For example, the Pictures folder will likely have files that are counted as Documents that do not belong to your Photo Library. The Photo Library is probably greyed out in that folder because that storage is counted in the Photos section.

Are you seeing all the folders listed in the File Browser? The difference on my computer is that I have a Library section there that contains a lot of Documents and also the folders in the File Browser are listed in descending order by size, where yours appears to be more random. I am on Mac OS 15.7.3, so if you are on 15.6 as seen in your tagline, there may have been a change made in the update.