Grand Design Computer Storage App

GrandPerspective is a small utility application for macOS that graphically shows the disk usage within a file system. It can help you to manage your disk, as you can easily spot which files and folders take up the most space. It uses a so called tree map for visualisation. Each file is shown as a rectangle with an area proportional to the file's size. Files in the same folder appear together, but their placement is otherwise arbitrary.

Download GrandPerspective from Sourceforge for free or from the App Store for $2.99. You'll get the same app either way.

So what's the difference? When you get it from the App Store you know that it has passed Apple's review and quality control, you receive automatic updates, you help cover distribution costs and you support further development.

News

13 Dec 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.4-L1 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It includes support for French (again).
21 Nov 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.4 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It features only one change but a notable one. After fifteen years, there's a new icon; it complies with the new Big Sur guidelines. I hope you like it. For those that liked the old icon, fear not, it's still used as a logo at various places.
15 Nov 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.3 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It is released as a Universal App so that it can also run on Apple Silicon. It also improves support for macOS Big Sur. Most notably, the toolbar has a new look and feel.
20 Sep 2020 Two significant milestones have passed. First, GrandPerspective's first release was exactly fifteen years ago. Second, it has been downloaded more than two million times. Hip, hip, hurray!
5 Jul 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.2-L1 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge and the App Store. The only change with respect to Version 2.5.2 is that the translations in Chinese, German, Italian, and Turkish are fully complete again. In other words, the text for the features newly added in Version 2.5.2 is now also translated.
28 Jun 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.2 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It improves the selection logic for filters with multiple tests. It also includes updated Chinese, German, Italian, and Turkish translations.
21 Jun 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.1 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It lets you quickly search files by name. It also includes drawing (performance) improvements and fixes some crashes.
13 Jun 2020 GrandPerspective 2.5.0 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It includes support for iCloud files and various minor bug fixes and improvements.
16 Apr 2020 GrandPerspective 2.4.3 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It includes support for Italian.
24 Jan 2020 GrandPerspective 2.4.2 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge and the App Store. It includes updated Chinese and German translations.
21 Jan 2020 GrandPerspective 2.4.1 has been released and can be downloaded from Sourceforge. It supports dropping folders onto the Start window. It also includes two bug fixes and updated Turkish translations.
10 Jan 2020 GrandPerspective 2.4.0 has been released and can be downloaded from Sourceforge. It features a new Control panel, which replaces the old drawer which has been deprecated by Apple and did not fully support Dark Mode. The new panel reduces screen clutter as it is shared by all views and can be placed where you want. This new version also includes a fix for an issue that could cause crashes when scanning data volumes.
22 Dec 2019 GrandPerspective 2.3.1 has been released and can be downloaded from Sourceforge. It includes updated translations for Portuguese and Chinese, as well as a fix for a problem in the Turkish translations which could cause a crash.
8 Dec 2019 GrandPerspective 2.3.0 has been released and can be downloaded from Sourceforge. It adds the ability to export scan data to text file, for further processing elsewhere. It also includes updates in the help documentation on how to identify Miscellaneous Used Space. Finally, it includes two bug fixes.
15 Aug 2019 GrandPerspective 2.2.3 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It will shortly also become available from the App Store. This version includes a new localization: Portuguese. Furthermore, the Start Window has been simplified.
4 Aug 2019 GrandPerspective 2.2.2 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It includes fixes required to run the application on macOS Catalina. Catalina is currently in beta and changes how the System Volume is stored. GrandPerspective's file scanning algorithm has been adapted accordingly which should avoid crashes reported by beta users.
6 May 2019 GrandPerspective 2.2.1 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge and the App Store. It is basically the 2.2.0 release with some very minor fixes.
22 Mar 2019 GrandPerspective 2.2.0 has been released and is available for download from Sourceforge. It includes improvements to Dark Mode and a fix for a problem that could cause the app to crash.

For the historians amongst you, there are even records of older news.

Features

Disk usage visualisation by way of tree maps
Configurable display of views:
- Choice of color mapping schemes. Color files by their:
  - name,
  - extension,
  - file type,
  - parent folder,
  - top folder,
  - level in the folder hierarchy,
  - creation time,
  - modification time, or
  - last access time
- Choice of color palettes
- Configurable mapping by file type
- Optionally view package contents
- Optionally view the entire volume
Convenient navigation of views:
- Traverse up and down the folder hierarchy
- Select files and folders in the view
Open files with Finder
Reveal files and folders in Finder
Preview files and folders using Quick Look
Delete files and folders from the view
Search files by name
Filter files and folders:
- Construct advanced filter tests based an item's name, path, size, file type, hard-link status, and package status
- Use these filters to:
  - Mask files in the view
  - Filter files from the view
  - Exclude files and folders when scanning a disk
- Filters and filter tests are automatically stored in the user preferences
Multiple view support:
- Re-scan a view to compare results before and after clean-up
- Twin or duplicate a view for different displays of the same data
Support for special files and folders:
- Hard-links: Analyse Time Machine back-ups
- Remote iCloud files: Analyse your cloud storage
Save results of disk scanning operations:
- Reload and view again at any time
Export scan results:
- As Image
- As Text
Configurable user preferences
Snappy and responsive GUI:
- Optimized drawing of views
- Drawing and scanning are carried out in background threads
Small memory and disk footprint
Fully internationalized:
- Up-to-date localizations available in English, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Turkish, Portuguese and Dutch
- Outdated localizations available in Japanese and Spanish
Extensive help documentation

Download it

GrandPerspective has been released as Open Source under the GNU General Public License. The official release files are available from the GrandPerspective download area at SourceForge. The latest release (Version 2.5.4) consists of two files:

GrandPerspective-2_5_4-L1.dmg
This is the main release file. It contains all you need to run the application. To install it, open the disk image and drag the application icon onto your Applications folder, or wherever you want to put it onto your file system. Next run the application by clicking on the icon.

This file also contains translations in:
- Chinese (Simplified),
- French,
- German,
- Italian,
- Portuguese,
- Turkish, and
- Dutch
GrandPerspective-2_5_4-src.tgz
This contains the source code of the application. It consists of the Objective C source code, as well as various auxiliary files, such as the XIB files that are used to construct the GUI.

System requirements

The latest release requires the following:

macOS 10.9 or higher
Intel processor

If you have an older system, you need to download an older version of GrandPerspective:

GrandPerspective 1.7.0 still supports macOS 10.7 and 10.8
GrandPerspective 1.5.3 still supports macOS 10.6
GrandPerspective 1.5.1 still supports macOS 10.5 and PowerPC processors

App Store

GrandPerspective is also distributed via the App Store as requested by several users. This exposes the app to a wider audience, including some who will only install software distributed via the App Store. I charge a small fee of $2.99 for the app when it is downloaded from there to cover the required developer program membership and other development costs.

Note: Updates here lag the releases available via SourceForge by a few weeks. Should SourceForge users find bugs in the new release, these will be fixed before making the (updated) application available on the App Store.

Release notifications

Subscribe to the GrandPerspective announcement mailing list if you want to be notified about new releases.

Support

You can support development of GrandPerspective by:

Giving feedback
Providing localizations
Making a donation
Getting the word out
Buying the app from the App Store
Rating the app at the App Store or other catalogs.

Thanks!

If you need support, you should first check the extensive help documentation that comes with the application. Should that does not help, you can try the Help forum.

Feedback

You can provide feedback about GrandPerspective in various ways:

Browse and submit bug reports
Browse and submit feature requests
Use one of the forums for GrandPerspective for other feedback

Localization

GrandPerspective is fully internationalized. This means that it can be localized to support languages other than English. I can manage the translation into Dutch, but for any other language, I will need your help. You can help to complete existing localizations, which is relatively little effort, or provide an entirely new localiation, which is significantly more work. The table below summarizes the status of currently available localizations.

Localization	Missing translations	Percentage translated
Dutch	0	100%
Chinese (Simplified)	0	100%
French	0	100%
German	0	100%
Italian	0	100%
Turkish	0	100%
Portuguese	18	96%

So, hereby a call for volunteers. If you want to help out with making GrandPerspective available in your mother tongue, or any other language you speak fluently, find out how you can help.

Donations

You can show your appreciation for GrandPerspective and support further development by making a donation.

Related software

GrandPerspective is certainly not the first of its kind. Tree maps have been around for a while, and their application to file systems is not novel either. A few other disk usage visualisation tools that employ tree maps are:

Sequoiaview, which is the one I bumped into first, because as it happens it was developed in Eindhoven, which is where I currently live.
KDirStat and WinDirStat I need to mention, if only because they are also hosted on SourceForge. I haven't tried them though.
Disk Inventory X is noteworthy because it also runs on macOS.

So, why GrandPerspective? Well, as you may have guessed it's a fun little coding project and I needed to pick something to code on my new Mac Mini. Having said that, it does have a few things going for it. Firstly, GrandPerspective is developed specifically for macOS, which narrows the immediate competition down to Disk Inventory X, as far as I'm aware. Secondly, GrandPerspective has its own way of visualising directory trees. The layout algorithm that is used is simple and effective, but novel to the best of my knowledge. Also, the file rectangles are drawn to be as clear and unobtrusive as possible. Whether you like it or not is a matter of taste, but you've got a choice. Thirdly, GrandPerspective will intentionally be kept as basic as possible. It should do one thing only, and do it well. That means it is a lean and mean application. GrandPerspective's memory requirements and the size it occupies on disk are pretty minimal. For those concerned about disk space, the latter must count for something, right? Finally, it has a cute logo that will enhance anyone's Dock. ;-)

In the limelight

Various web sites have helped to get the word out about GrandPerspective. Thanks to all.

Reviews and recommendations

eli4d.com: "GrandPerspective is a wonderful tiny disk utility. [...] The program is amazingly quick at scanning a folder of any size." (an extensive review with walkthrough on how to use the application. It is very positive about the application and its author... blush)
iLounge.com: "Our favorite Mac applications for managing hard disks are GrandPerspective and Onyx" (excellent tutorial on the use of filters)
9to5mac.com: "As its name suggests, GrandPerspective instead gives you a sense of the big picture folders that are taking up space." (short tutorial)
MacDevCenter.com: "My new favorite little bit of freeware for OS X."
mac and I: "It's free and open source, so give it a try. You won't be disappointed."
lifehacker.com: "Download of the day"
FreeMacWare.com: "This is a great Mac app on principle alone - it's both functional and really cool!"
Geek Like Me: "There aren't very many Mac utility programs I find useful on a regular basis, but GrandPerspective is one of them."
MacWorld.com: "With a quick glance at GrandPerspective, I was able to find nearly 9GB of virtual litter on my boot drive."
PCWorld.com and MacWorld.com: "My favorite tools for finding [space-hogging files and folders you're not aware of] are Eriban's free GrandPerspective and ID-Design's $13 WhatSize."
cnet.com: "Having a tool like GrandPerspective (another similar tool is Daisy Disk) that will show you the relative size of the files on your disk is a great option to have, and can greatly help you pinpoint whether disk usage is from a problematic log file, duplicate files, or simply having too many files on your disk."
mac.elated.com: "It's a fantastically quick and intuitive way to find those giant files that are sucking up your disk space."
CultOfMac.com: "This excellent free application scans your hard disk [...] and measures exactly what's what and how big it is."
FreeMacAppADay.com: "GrandPerspective is an awesome utility"
ars technica: "As this screenshot shows, some files are enormous. See that big red blob? That's my laptop's hibernation file."
AppYourMac.com: "GrandPerspective is an essential application that will keep your hard drive free of unnecessary files"
kubadownload.com: "Using free software like GrandPerspective it's easy to manage your disk and spot the largest files on your Mac"
ILoveMacApps.com: "This is a very good application. It does its job perfectly."
MAC.BLORGE.com: "Another good utility to prep your files and applications for running on a MacBook Air is GrandPerspective."
it-support.com.au: "GrandPerspective is really a great little application, and one I use on a regular basis when helping my clients tidy up their Apple computers."
kayray.org: "one of my favorite utilities for OS X"
DoseMagazine.com: "Great little app for Mac users who have huge hard drives that are... full all of a sudden"
MacResearch.org: "a very effective way to immediately see what is eating up your file system"
MacApper.com: "GrandPerspective is great for people who would rather have a visual representation of their hard drives"
MacTricksAndTips.com: "A great tool for [identifying big files and folders to delete] and I suggest you use it."
macpassword.com: "It's a fantastically quick and intuitive way to find those giant files that are sucking up your disk space"
nswits.com.au: "It is really a wonderful, little tiny disk utility."
forwheelers.net: Recommends GrandPerspective as a great Mac application.
APLawrence.com: "A simple and very direct application."
Jemima's Chevron blog: "I downloaded GrandPerspective on a whim, and ended up finding and deleting about 3 GB of cruft from my hard drive."
Should've Asked Me: "Very handy for spotting the space-wasters when you're doing spring cleaning."
I Heart To Blog: "I was astonished to find files I didn't even know existed on my machine!"
BestBizWare.com: "I really enjoy using this program to see the big picture"
DavidLowry.co.uk: "Really good way to find big files that you should be rid of"
gentry i/o: "Ah, finally a visual way to keep the ol' mac hard drive clean..."
Aspirations of a [Phronemophiliac]: "Good for rooting out space hogs."
AaronFreedman.com: "GrandPerspective works very well and is a great aid to cleaning up your hard drive."
TheAppleBlog.com: "It's a great little utility, a must have for your laptop."
Rhonabwy.com: "This critter is going to be a fairly constant companion..."
ericholsinger.com: "When I saw the first screenshot on the website, I was ready to look for another option. But, I had second thoughts and tried it out. I'm glad I did. It does exactly what I want."
macenstein.com: "while true Apple geeks can use terminal to search for space hogs, and the very patient can choose "Calculate Folder Sizes" in Finder [...] this is a much faster, and more fun way to reclaim drive space."
notebooks.co "GrandPerspective makes it easy to check the what's taking up the space."
tutsplus.com: "GrandPerspective is an extremely powerful tool, but it may overwhelm some beginner users."
smumacness.co: "what sets GrandPerspective apart is that it is simple, fluid and most importantly, free."
MacBook.pro and TidBITS.com: "With GrandPerspective it's trivial to see when a couple of very large files are responsible for the disk filling up."
TidBITS.com: Recommends GrandPerspective for identifying large files as "I'm partial to GrandPerspective's graphical view"
www.tuaw.com: "Daily Mac App - July 26 2011"
isource.com: "Picks of the Week - 2011 Week 34"
EasyOSX.wordpress.com: "App of the Week"
MacWorld.com: "One easy way to locate other large files that you can delete, move, or skip when migrating to your MacBook Air is to use a program like the free GrandPerspective."
techtyrantnews.com: "It's probably one of the most useful applications I have."
MakeTechEasier.com: "GrandPerspective has a nice live highlighting feature that is actually very helpful with navigation."
Rocket Matter: "In one hour, I freed up over 60 GB of space on my hard drive. Thanks so much, Grand Perspective."
TechnoTell.com: "GrandPerspective is free, entertaining, a quick 733 [KB] download, and may even be useful. What's not to like?"
MacsInLife.com: "You might also have space-hogging files and folders you're not aware of. My favorite tool for finding them [is] Eriban's free GrandPerspective."
Silver Clipboard: "lets you quickly find what's been hogging the most room and causing those scary 'you are about to run out of space' warning messages."
patchpanel.blogspot.com: "Excellent little program, no doubt! [...] It is also an interesting background generator"
forgeniuses.com: "Using GrandPerspective I was able to reclaim several gigabytes of space used up by caches, out of control log files and forgotten downloads and back ups that I no longer needed."
uk.businessinsider.com: "Luckily, there are apps out there that are a godsend for helping you map your hard drive so you can figure out what's taking up so much space. My favourite for Macs is called GrandPerspective"
Roumazeilles.net: "Recommended"
HughMcGuire.net: "The colours are god-awful, but if you want to clean stuff out, it's a great way to find out what [is taken up all the space on your harddrive]."
MarkusZeller.com: "Scanning is really fast, so that you even could scan the root of any mass storage device."
MichaelVanPutten.com: "[one] of my favorite free OS X applications."
Karenism.com: "If you don't have it, you should download it now."
hochit.com: "What a great tool!"
www.tuaw.com: "Auntie is a huge fan of Grand Perspective."
MacWork.com: "It's native and really fast."
leanmac.com: "An easy way to find those huge files and get rid of them fast."
maccast.com: "if offers a beautiful visual representation of your data"
appletell.com: "a great, simple tool that allows you to monitor how your hard drive space is being used."
NosillaCast: "I don't think any Mac user should be without this program". Listen to the PodCast
MacTipper blog (Warning: page may crash Safari): "Really nice"

Videos

ScreenCastsOnline.com has provided an excellent tutorial on monitoring disk usage featuring GrandPerspective and OmniDiskSweeper
Worker Bee Supply: "We love this app and use it on all of our computers"
MacAppGuide: "GrandPerspective really is a great program that allows you to see files that you may have previously forgotten about that are still taking up pointless space" (this is the most informative video of them all)
Björn Albers: "Ein ziemlich genialen App" (a very clear introduction to the app in German)
BradOFarell: "Coolest Mac program ever"
themacbookone: "One of the Best apps I have seen"
MacTipper: "Really, really nice"
OSX509: "It's a really neat app"
cjdanilecki: "great application"
thedevilofpower: "Just get it, it's really good"
PwnageTutorials: "Those are like little ants" (this is the funniest of them all)
callsignHUSKER (Warning: also featuring slightly disturbing footage with guns and babes): "It really should be built into the computer. A great way to see everything on your computer."
jimmyrcom: "The coolest program I have never seen"
bhd11120: "It's pretty cool. I like it."
bulbasuar17: "GrandPerspective is a really nice Mac app. [...] I highly recommend that you just don't go deleting random files."
InstrumentManiac: "Very good program. [...] I have been using it to find where I can save space on my computer."
giorgio1apple: "It's a very nice app."
iTalkApple: "Once it's done scanning you get a really cool looking window"
CBGFilms: "It's a really good application"
theworldofapple: "When I clean up my harddrive I heavily rely on an application called GrandPerspective"
machelptips: "It's just a really good application if you want to clean up your computer"
iMacWorld: "It's a great way to show what you're using and delete the useless stuff"
Refillkid: "an awesome application"
gofiltered: "[...] and that is how I use GrandPerspective in order to clean up my harddrive every once in a while"
davidcallaway: "it helps you locate problem files"
TheMacOracle: "it's really cool, it shows you what you have"
WindowsAndMacintosh: "you can actually see how much each program takes up"
TheTechJoint: "a really visual and cool way to figure out what is taking up the space"
ZAMtech1994: "this actually saved me about 20GB worth of harddrive space"
iAppleTalker: "makes a pretty cool desktop background of your whole harddrive, if you're that geeky"
macwinexpert: "you can use it to find disk space that you do not need"
ChrisTheAppleOne: "I went from 34GB to 72GB [free space] so that really helped"
macdemos: "a very clever little application"
firehydrant3: Various useful tips
MacGuy1000
themacbookexpert
TerryCPiano
xXNinj00nzXx

Software catalogs

The most up-to-date entries are listed at the top. The bottom of the list contains some very old entries.

FossHub.com
MacUpdate.com
download.cnet.com
Softpedia.com
filehorse.com
macintouch.com
freedownloadmanager.org
Mac.MajorGeeks.com
RoaringApps.com
FormidApps.com
filecluster.com
thriftmac.com
fcpxfree.com
TechSpot.com
DownloadRoute.com
DoDownload.com
just-download.com
Mac.Wareseeker.com
Brothersoft.com
Mac.sofotex.com
Softonic.com
GearDownload.com
soft-go.com

Awards

Softpedia.com in 2006 rated GrandPerspective 5 out of 5.
Macworld.com in 2006 listed GrandPerspective as a "Best of Gem" in the Enhancers and Troubleshooters category.
MacTricksAndTips.com names GrandPerspective as one of the Top 100 Essential Mac Applications.
GrandPerspective is an Editor's Choice at DownloadAtlas.com
GrandPerspective is an Editor's Pick at MacDownload.Informer.com

Other stuff

Running GrandPerspective while you sleep: esaruoho describes how to schedule GrandPerspective scans using iCal and Applescript
How to install GrandPerspective with Brew: Dylan Pierce provides instructions for installing GrandPerspective using brew
The Naked Truth!: Jean Constant has used images generated by GrandPerspective for creating an interesting collection of digital art
Wikipedia.org - GrandPerspective even has a Wikipedia entry! It's tiny, but still larger than that of Earth in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :-)

And now... something completely different

Still here? Well, then you might also be interested in checking out other stuff I have made: