Temporary files support operations in progress. They can remain after a crash, forced quit, interrupted download, or failed installation.
Finish active operations
Do not clean temporary data while applications are exporting, rendering, compiling, installing, synchronizing, or updating. Save documents and quit the owning applications.
Check for recovery value
After a crash, reopen the application first and use its document-recovery interface. Preserve autosave, recovery, or session data until important work is restored.
Review results
Run Junk Files, expand temporary categories, and inspect the owner, path, and modification date. Recent files belonging to an app that crashed deserve additional caution.
Select abandoned items only after confirming that their original operation is no longer needed.
After removal
Reopen affected applications and verify documents and projects. If a temporary item cannot be removed, it may still be open or protected; rescan after closing related processes.
Recurring large temporary data
Update the owning app, verify free disk space, and investigate incomplete operations. Frequent cleanup is not a substitute for fixing a process that repeatedly fails.