Analyze and Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 Using Storage Sense

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Until I am aware of an automatic disk cleanup tool in Windows 10, I have been using third-party software. The old Disk Cleanup tool cannot do an automatic and detailed analysis. However, Microsoft makes analyzing and disk cleanup more easy and more fun in Windows 10 using Storage Sense.

Windows Storage Sense is smart enough to upload your local files onto OneDrive that you are not using anymore. It then removes those files on your local device to free up space. You can access those files while you are connected to the Internet. I must say Storage Sense makes good use of the online-only files feature of OneDrive.

As per Microsoft, Storage Sense is available for Microsoft Windows 10 version 1809 or later.

Enable Storage Sense

Storage Sense is disabled by default. To analyze and disk cleanup using Storage Sense, you have to enable it. To enable Storage Sense, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Type Storage Settings in the Search for anything text box Microsoft Windows 10 Search for Anything in the taskbar.
  2. Select Storage Settings from the menu. The Settings window with Storage options is displayed. You should be able to see Storage Sense options as shown in the following screenshot. If you do not see it, chances are your Windows 10 is not up to date.
Microsoft Windows Storage Options - Storage Sense
Storage Sense Option in Windows 10 under Storage Settings
  1. Under the Storage pane, turn on Storage Sense by shifting the toggle to On, as shown in the following screenshot.
Enable Storage Sense Windows 10
Enable Storage Sense in Windows 10

When you enable Storage Sense, by default it is set to run only on low free disk space. It allows you to access your files locally as much as possible. In addition, its default configuration allows keeping files in recycle bin for up to 30 days. Any files older than 30 days in recycle bin or the temp files that your apps are not using are only deleted. You can configure it the way you like. For this do not miss our next section, Configure Storage Sense.

Configure Storage Sense

You can configure Storage Sense as and how you want. For example, to run it every week instead of running only on low disk space or deleting files over 60 days instead of 30 days. To configure Storage Sense, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Type Storage Settings in the Search for anything text box in the taskbar.
  2. Select Storage Settings from the menu. The Settings window with Storage options is displayed.
  3. Click the Configure Storage Sense or run it now link. The Configure Storage Sense or run it now window is displayed, as shown in the following screenshot.
Configure Storage Sense or run it now - Microsoft Windows 10
Configure Storage Sense or run it now in Microsoft Windows 10; the Disk Cleanup Tool
  1. Click the back button or the Home button once you are happy with the changes. This will automatically save your changes.

Manually Disk Cleanup using Storage Sense

You can also run the Storage Sense tool manually. To run it manually, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Type Storage Settings in the Search for anything text box in the taskbar.
  2. Select Storage Settings from the menu. The Settings window with Storage options is displayed.
  3. Click the Configure Storage Sense or run it now link. The Configure Storage Sense or run it now window is displayed.
  4. Click the Clean now button to manually run the Storage Sense.
  5. Click the back button or the Home button to return to the main window. Alternatively, you can click the close button to close the Settings window.

Disable Storage Sense

I do not see any reason for disabling Storage Sense once enabled. However, if you do need that, you can perform the following steps:

  1. Type Storage Settings in the Search for anything text box in the taskbar.
  2. Select Storage Settings from the menu. The Settings window with Storage options is displayed.
  3. Under the Storage pane, turn off Storage Sense by shifting the toggle to Off,

When you disabled the Storage Sense, you still be able to navigate to Configure Storage Sense or run it now and run the tool manually. The only thing that is disabled is the analyzing and deleting of temp files automatically.

Run Storage Sense Manually when the Storage Sense feature is disabled
Manually Run Storage Sense When Feature is Disabled

Limitations of Storage Sense

Even though it is a great tool without a doubt, but it has some limitations. These limitations of Storage Sense are that it:

  • Is available for Windows 10 version 1809 and later. If you do not want to update your Windows to this build or later, you cannot enjoy the benefits of this tool.
  • Runs only on the C: drive, so your OneDrive location must reside on the system partition (C:\).
  • Ignores other locations, including physical drives, such as CD and DVD drives, and logical partitions, such as D: drives.
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