How to Delete Photos on Mac: 6 Simple Ways | 2024

Before learning how to delete photos on a Mac, you might want to know why you should delete photos on your Mac in the first place. When using a Mac device like a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, you have limited built-in hard drive storage space. With many photos and videos on your Mac, it can run slower and cause other system issues. To free up space on your Macintosh HD, you should first delete photos and videos from your Mac.

Some new Mac users may not know how to delete photos on Mac. We will show you how to delete pictures in the Photos app, Library, Trash folder, or using the delete shortcut. If you accidentally deleted some important pictures, you can jump to Part 7 to recover deleted pictures on Mac.

Maybe you should download this software in advance.

Method 1: How to Manually Delete Photos in the Photos App on a Mac

The first method to delete photos from your Mac is the basic one recommended by Apple support. It's simple enough for new Mac users, and you can select the unwanted photos and videos in the Photos app on your macOS.

Step 1: Photos should be in the Dock by default. Click the icon to open it.

Step 2: Click on “Photos” from the sidebar, then select the pictures you don't want to keep in the Photos app.

A window will pop up asking you to confirm that you want to delete the items. If you change your mind, select “Cancel.” Otherwise, click “Delete.”

Select the photos to delete

Step 4: The deleted photos will appear in the "Recently Deleted" album. If you don't want them, tap "Delete All" to remove them all at once.

Tap “Delete All”.

Method 2: How to Delete an Album from Photos on a Mac

macOS organizes your photos into different albums, and you can easily delete duplicate photos on Mac by removing duplicate albums.

Step 1: Open the Photos app on your Mac and navigate to the Albums section.

Step 2: Here, you'll see all the default and custom albums. Choose the album that you want to delete.

Select the album to delete

Step 3: Right-click the album you want to delete, then select “Delete Album.” Confirm that you want to delete it, and the photos in the album will be removed from your Mac.

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Method 3: How to Delete Photos from Your Mac Without Deleting Them from iCloud

If you use iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, deleting photos from the Photos app also deletes them from iCloud. If you need to recover deleted photos from iCloud on your Mac, you can prevent Photos from syncing with iCloud. Follow the instructions in this article to disable iCloud Photo Library.

Step 1. Open System Preferences on your Mac.

Step 2: Tap the iCloud icon to open it.

Step 3: You'll see a list of every app on this Mac that uses iCloud. Deselect Photos.

Method 4: Delete Photos by Removing the Photo Library

Mac users can also delete photos by deleting their entire library. This is also very simple, though you should back up your photos first in case you want them later. Check out the detailed tutorial here:

Step 1: Open Finder > Go > Home.

< strong > Step 2: < / strong > Next, you should open the "Pictures" folder.

Step 3: Right-click on "Photos Library" and delete it.

Method 5: How to Delete Photos on a Mac Using Keyboard Shortcuts Quickly deleting photos on your Mac can be done using keyboard shortcuts. Follow these steps: 1. Open the "Photos" application. 2. Navigate to the photo you wish to delete. 3. Press the spacebar to preview the photo. 4. Press "Command + Backspace" (⌘+⌫) to delete the selected photo. A confirmation dialog will appear. 5. Click "Delete" to permanently remove the photo, or click "Cancel" if you change your mind. Please note that deleted photos will move to the Trash, from where you can restore them unless you empty the Trash.

There are a few shortcuts to quickly delete photos on your Mac:

Shortcut 1. Command + Delete is a shortcut to move files to the Trash, which will delete all selected photos, sending them to the Trash folder.

Shortcut #2. Option + Command + Delete will instantly remove the selected photo without sending it to the Trash. This shortcut also comes in handy if you don't know how to delete undeletable Mac files.

Keyboard Shortcut #3: Command + Shift + Delete will delete the photo from the trash. Actually, this keyboard shortcut will empty the Trash on your Mac.

Method 6: Move Photos to the Trash on a Mac

Do you know what is Trash on Mac and where is the Trash on Mac? This special folder keeps your deleted files, which can be accessed from the Dock. When you need to delete photos that are already in the Trash or want to permanently remove some pictures, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Find the photos you want to delete and select them. You can use the Command key to select multiple photos.

Step 2: Drag the photos to the Trash (you don't need to open the Trash; you can drag the photos right onto its icon).

Drag the picture to the trash can.

Step 3. You can then right-click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash. This immediately deletes all the files in the Trash.

How to Recover Deleted Photos on a Mac with Software

When you empty the Trash on Mac or permanently delete some photos, you may think that the pictures will be gone from your Mac forever. Actually, the data still remains on your disk. When you want to recover deleted files from Trash on Mac, you can use photo recovery software to restore the deleted files.

The Mac Data Recovery Wizard will not disappoint you – it is a great utility for all Mac users. With its powerful features and user-friendly interface, you'll enjoy working with it. We offer a free trial version of the Data Recovery Wizard tool – grab your copy by clicking the button below!

To give you a deeper insight into this reliable Mac photo recovery software, here are some highlights that you shouldn't miss:

- ?️ Supports Mac Trash Recovery to retrieve deleted photos, even after the Mac Trash has been emptied. - ? Recovers deleted or lost photos, videos, audio files, documents, and emails from various storage devices. This tool can recover all types of files. - ? Performs data recovery on Mac from multiple storage devices: Mac Hard Drive Recovery, USB Flash Drive Recovery, Pen Drive Recovery, and Digital Camera Recovery.

After installing this secure Mac recovery program on your Mac, you can follow the steps to restore deleted photos one by one:

Note: You can create a backup by first clicking “Disk Backup” on the left. If your disk fails or photos are accidentally deleted from the disk, you can recover them from the backup image.

Step 1: Scan the Lost Photos

Select the location where you lost your precious photos and then click on the “Start Scan” button to search for the lost files.

Select the location where you lost your photos, then click Search for Lost Files.

Step 2: Select the photos you need.

The "Data Recovery Wizard" will immediately scan the selected disk volume. The scan results will be displayed in the left panel. You can quickly filter out the previously lost images by "Path" and "Type".

Step 3: Recover Lost Photos

Select the photos you need to recover and click the “Recover” button to get them all back at once.

Conclusions

Hopefully, you'll find the solutions in this article helpful. It's recommended that you download the tool Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to prepare for future photo recovery on Mac. By the way, it can also help you fix corrupted videos on Mac. Get the free trial right now!

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Delete Photos on a Mac

That's it for this tutorial! You can find more information in the links below:

How to delete albums on Mac?

There are three ways to delete albums from your Mac:

1. Delete the album from your Mac by right-clicking.
2. Delete the album from your Mac using Terminal.
3. Delete the album from iCloud.

2. Can I recover deleted photos from my Canon camera?

Yes, you can use the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool to recover deleted photos from your Canon camera.

1. Remove the SD card from your Canon camera and select it in the recovery software. 2. There are two scan modes for the Canon SD card. If the quick scan fails to locate your target photos, try a deep scan. 3. Select all the photos you need and hit the "Recover" button.

3. What is the Most Recommended Mac Photo Recovery Software?

Here are some good data recovery tools for the Mac:

1. Mac Data Recovery Wizard 2. Recoverit for Mac 3. Data Rescue 6 4. PhotoRec 5. Disk Drill 6. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac 7. DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software 8. AnyRecover for Mac

< strong > 4. Can I delete all photos from my Mac?

To delete all the photos in the Photos app, you can select them all and delete them, or you can delete all albums in Photos. If you want all your photos to go away, try deleting your entire photo library on your Mac.