Docs / Getting Started
🚀 Getting Started
DiskInsight is a native macOS disk analyzer. Everything runs on your machine — scanning, search, snapshots and cleanup never touch the cloud.
Installation
- Buy a license — your key and the download link arrive by email right after payment.
- Download the DMG and open it.
- Drag DiskInsight into your Applications folder and launch it.
- Paste your license key into the first screen. That’s it.
When you first scan a folder, macOS may ask for permission to access it. Grant access — DiskInsight never requests more than it needs, and explains each permission inline.
Your first scan
On launch you can:
- Scan Home — analyzes your entire home directory.
- Scan Full Mac — analyzes your whole drive (guided full-disk access on Apple Silicon).
- Choose Folder — pick any folder (⌘O).
During the scan, a disk card shows live totals: bytes seen, folders, files, and remaining partition space. You can cancel anytime with ⌘. — partial results are discarded.
Finding your way around
The window has four areas:
- Header — the treemap/visualizer controls, scan actions, search and settings.
- Sidebar — switch between Analysis, Quick Wins, Duplicates, App Uninstaller, Snapshots, Cleanup, Dev Cache Cleaner, Search, Monitor, Tagging and Screenshot Rename.
- Main area — the current visualizer or tool.
- Inspector — opens on the right (press the sidebar icon or
I) with details for the selected file or folder.
The basics of analysis
Click a folder in the treemap to zoom into it. The breadcrumb bar above the visualizer shows your path — click any crumb to jump back. Press Esc to zoom out to the parent, then to the root.
Hover any item to inspect it in the footer. Right-click for actions: reveal in Finder, open, stage for cleanup, or inspect.
Cleanup philosophy
DiskInsight never deletes anything permanently.
- The only destructive action is “Move to Trash”, and it always moves to the macOS Trash.
- Nothing happens in the background — files are only touched when you explicitly confirm.
- Every cleanup surface (Staged Cleanup, Quick Wins, App Uninstaller, Dev Cache Cleaner) asks for confirmation before trashing.
You can always recover from the Trash until you empty it yourself.
Where to go next
- Analysis views — the nine visualizers explained.
- Safe cleanup — staging, Quick Wins and the uninstaller.
- Privacy — what DiskInsight sees, stores and sends.
- Changelog — what changed in each release.