My Google Chrome.app is too big. Can I remove previous versions from the Content folder?
I recently scanned my hard-drive looking for things that are taking up too much space. I couldn't believe what I found: The Google Chrome.app takes over 5 GB on my hard-drive (Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.2). (Remember, I am not talking about the browser cache or RAM allocation, but simply the app itself.)
I looked inside the .app package and found a Versions folder containing Google Chrome versions dating back to 2013 (31.0).
- Alright, so I have to manually delete old Google Chrome versions from inside the app? Why is Google Chrome not deleting old versions itself?
Doing this actually does reduce the Contents folder to about 190 MB, but the .app package does not shrink. (I am guessing it's a sort of zip archive that won't shrink automatically?)
- Therefore, the problem I am facing now is that even though the contents of the Google Chrome app are of reasonable size again, the app package is still 5 GB large. Any idea how to shrink it?
Yes, I can simply re-install Google Chrome, but I would have to remember doing this every once in a while, which is a pain, I simply can't believe that there is not at least a Settings switch to Clear app versions. Maybe you have a better solution or have experienced this as well?
Solution 1:
It should, afaik, only keep the 2 last versions.
You can safely delete any older than the latest two - then keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't happen again.
It's likely a glitch that has prevented it keeping up to date. It would be worth checking if it has all versions back to 31.0 or whether there is a time-gap, then just the last two.
If there is a gap, then there's the possibility that the glitch has cleared, but didn't auto-clean up versions from earlier.
An .app package, btw, is simply a folder - nothing more complex than that. Add .app to any folder & watch it change.
The size reported ought to change next time it's accessed, though at worst could take a reboot.