Metadata
~/Library/Metadata stores Spotlight and Core Spotlight indexing data that macOS uses to find files, app content, and search results faster.
What is Metadata?
~/Library/Metadata is a macOS user Library folder that stores metadata databases used by Spotlight and Core Spotlight. This data helps your Mac index files, documents, messages, and app content so searches return results quickly in Spotlight, Finder, and other Apple search features. The folder is created and updated by macOS and by apps that expose searchable content to the system. Users usually encounter it only when checking storage usage or troubleshooting search indexing problems. Removing its contents does not delete your original documents, but it can force macOS to rebuild search indexes and may temporarily make search slower or incomplete until indexing finishes again.
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Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
This folder is part of normal macOS search indexing behavior. Its contents can include searchable metadata about files and app content, so it may reflect document names and other indexed information even though it is not the original data itself. Deleting data here can interrupt Spotlight or app search temporarily while indexes rebuild. Do not remove it as routine cleanup if Spotlight search is working normally.
Recommendation: Keep this folder if Spotlight and in-app search work as expected. If you are troubleshooting broken search results or unusually large metadata storage, you can remove only the contents of affected Spotlight metadata folders and then let macOS rebuild them, but expect slower or incomplete search results until reindexing is done.
File path
~/Library/Metadata
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