Archipel · My files
Archipel: find what is really filling up your drive
Caches and logs are easy to clean. The real weight on a drive, though, almost always comes from your own files: a video exported three times, a folder copied "just in case", bursts of photos, installer disk images never deleted. Archipel is the module that deals with these personal files, with four scans: Large files, Duplicates, Similar images and Downloads.
Nothing here is selected for you without good reason: these are your documents, and you make the call.
Choose the scope: a folder, the whole Mac or an external drive
Before starting the scan, you choose where to look:
- Home folder: the default, where your documents live.
- Whole Mac: users, applications and shared libraries.
- A connected external drive, which appears directly in the list.
- A specific folder, via "Choose a folder…".
Then tick the scans you want to run, one or all four. Folders added to the exclusions in MacNeat's settings are never scanned.
Large files
Archipel lists the heaviest files in the chosen area, sorted by size: videos, archives, disk images, device backups, audio projects. It is often the most rewarding scan: a handful of multi-GB files is enough to explain a full drive. Click Show in Finder to check a file before deciding.
To understand how space is split folder by folder, the visual explorer Panorama is a natural companion.
Duplicates: identical down to the last byte
Duplicates are detected by their content, not their name: two files count as identical only if their data is. "Final report.pdf" and "Final report (1).pdf" are grouped if they match; two different files with the same name are not. In each group, you keep the copy you prefer.
The Photos and Music libraries are special cases: for Photos, use the built-in duplicates album in the Photos app; for Music, the dedicated tool in Atelier merges play counts and playlists. Our article on duplicate files explains the differences.
Similar images: bursts and variants
A photo taken five times in a row, an edited screenshot, an image exported as both JPEG and PNG: these aren't exact duplicates, but they look alike. After the scan, Archipel compares images with each other (progress is shown) and groups those that are nearly identical.
This comparison is computed on your Mac: no image is sent anywhere. You then pick the best version in each group.
Forgotten downloads
The Downloads folder always ends up as a storage room: .dmg and .pkg installers for apps already installed, .zip archives already unpacked, attachments saved once and never opened again. Archipel lists them so you can sort through them in a few minutes.
Your files, your decisions
- Everything goes through the Trash: nothing is erased directly.
- Log and undo: each operation is recorded and the last one can be undone.
- Protected areas and exclusions are respected.
- Free scan, deletion with a license (7-day trial). Apple Silicon and Intel, local processing.