Remove Photos App and photos from my MacBook Air but not iCloud?

[kdum8]

I am looking for help/advice on how to deal with a low storage issue. I have a MacBook Air with only a 128 GB SDD and need to update to a newer version of MacOS. I have deleted everything I possibly can but still don't have enough space on the HDD.

However, the Photos App is using 14.17 GB of space, despite having turned on 'Optimise Mac Storage'. (See attachments).

I have all my photos in iCloud, and stored on other Macs with larger drives, so I don't actually need Photos on the MacBook Air. Is there any way I can safely delete the Photos app on the MacBook Air and get back the 14.17 GB of space so I can perform the install? I am not very familiar with how iCloud storage works..

 

[raythompsontn]

Sign out of iCloud on the Mac where storage is needed. That should remove, or allow you to remove, the photos on that Mac. Sign back in when you are done with the update. I think.

 

[chabig]

If you simply unblock the iCloud Photos button, you'll turn cloud syncing off. Then you can delete all photos from the app very easily–-select all > delete.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Sign out of iCloud Photos - it'll ask if you want to download, say “no”. Once you’re signed out quit the Photos app, and the go into the Finder and trash your “Photos Library.” Done!

 

[zorinlynx]

Make sure you don't have data tied up in Time Machine snapshots.

Open Disk Utility and select your drive, then under View, "Show APFS snapshots". They will appear at the bottom.

If you have snapshots they are likely still "holding onto" the deleted data and not freeing up the space. You can delete the snapshots here, but be ABSOLUTELY SURE you won't want to recover any data you've deleted recently!