How to use Cleanup Recommendations to free space on Windows 11

Cleanup Recommendations on Windows 11 is a feature that helps you find apps, files, and other content to delete, freeing up hard drive space on your computer.

The feature is part of the Storage settings, and it intelligently detects and suggests the amount of space that Windows 11 can reclaim by deleting large or unused files, uninstalling unused apps, and clearing duplicate file copies already uploaded to OneDrive.

The operating system cannot make the decision to delete files and programs for you, but if the computer is running low on storage, you can use these suggestions to delete unused files and remove apps to make more room for other content.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to free up storage space using the Cleanup Recommendations feature in Windows 11.

Free up space with Cleanup Recommendations on Windows 11

To use Cleanup Recommendations to free up space on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

2. Click on System.

3. Click the Storage page on the right side.

4. Click the Cleanup recommendations option under the “Storage management” section.

   

5. Click on Temporary files.

6. Check the files to delete to free up space on Windows 11.

   Quick tip: You can also click on “See advanced options” to access the “Temporary files” settings to clean up more files.

7. Click the Clean up button.

   

8. Click on Large or unused files.

9. Select the suggested files to free up storage space on Windows 11.

10. Click the Clean up button.

11. Click on Files sync to the cloud.

12. Select the files available locally since they are already in the cloud.

    

13. Click the Cleanup button.

14. Click on Unused apps.

15. Select the apps you want to remove to free up space on your device.

16. Click the Clean up button.

Once you complete the steps, the Cleanup Recommendations feature will delete files to make more space for storing other important files. Depending on the amount of data, the performance of Windows 11 should improve noticeably.

Update April 23, 2025: This content has been updated with new information, and it’s been revised to ensure accuracy.