If you just noticed a DS_store file on your Mac, you are probably wondering what it is. Here, we are going to explain that, and we are going to show you how to get rid of such files.

DS_store files are created automatically on your macOS. These files can be found in your system folders, and their purpose is to help your Mac maintain the folder’s display settings. The Finder creates DS_store files, which contain all of the information about the folder – window’s position, the last time it was opened, the size and shape of the window, icon positions, and more.

You may think these files could take up a lot of space on your Mac, but it’s the opposite. They barely take up any space. In addition, these files can’t cause any harm to your Mac. The only time these files can cause unexpected issues is when you are transferring the files from your Mac to another system, such as Windows or Linux.

How to delete the DS_Store file

You can manually delete the files using the Terminal. Here is how:

• Navigate to Applications > Utilities > Terminal
• Find the folder where the DS_Store you want to remove is
• Now you need to type cd into the Terminal and add the folder path right after that, so it may look like this cd /Users/username/foldername
• Press Enter
• Type the following command find . -name ‘.DS_Store’ -type f -delete
• Press Enter

The DS_Store files in the folder are now gone.

If this seems like a lot of work for you and you don’t want to do it manually, there are tools you can use, such as iMyMac or CleanMyMac X.

With tools like the ones we mentioned, you can clean these files, junk files, duplicate files, and more.