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

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, Italian, Turkish, Portuguese and Dutch Outdated localizations available in Japanese, Spanish and French

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 2.5.2) consists of two files:

GrandPerspective-2_5_2-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), German, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, and Dutch

GrandPerspective-2_5_2-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:

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:

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% 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

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.

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

And now... something completely different

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