{"id":"freeing-space.what-is-what-you-actually-work-on","url":"/faq/freeing-space/what-is-what-you-actually-work-on","category":{"id":"freeing-space","title":"Freeing up space"},"subcategory":{"id":"profile-and-charts","title":"Storage Profile, charts and Home"},"question":"What does \"What you actually work on\" show in the Storage Profile?","alt_questions":["Which files do I actually work on?","Show my working set","What files do I use most?","Recent files Storage Profile","What am I actively using on my Mac?"],"short_answer":"It shows the files you've opened recently — your real working set — against everything you store, by type and folder, with an expandable list you can reveal in Finder.","answer_markdown":"It shows your real working set — the small number of files you've opened recently — compared with everything you store, for example how many files you've worked on in the last 30 days out of all those stored.\n\nIt breaks them down by type, shows the folders you work in most, and has an expandable list of the files themselves grouped by category, with each file's name, location, when it was last opened and a reveal-in-Finder button.\n\nIt's a useful way to see how much of your disk is genuinely in use — the rest is often a candidate for your fast drive. See [Where it lives](/faq/freeing-space/what-does-where-it-lives-show).","answer_html":"

It shows your real working set — the small number of files you've opened recently — compared with everything you store, for example how many files you've worked on in the last 30 days out of all those stored.

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It breaks them down by type, shows the folders you work in most, and has an expandable list of the files themselves grouped by category, with each file's name, location, when it was last opened and a reveal-in-Finder button.

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It's a useful way to see how much of your disk is genuinely in use — the rest is often a candidate for your fast drive. See Where it lives.

","answer_text":"It shows your real working set — the small number of files you've opened recently — compared with everything you store, for example how many files you've worked on in the last 30 days out of all those stored.\n\nIt breaks them down by type, shows the folders you work in most, and has an expandable list of the files themselves grouped by category, with each file's name, location, when it was last opened and a reveal-in-Finder button.\n\nIt's a useful way to see how much of your disk is genuinely in use — the rest is often a candidate for your fast drive. See Where it lives.","tags":["storage profile","working set","recent files"],"related":[{"id":"freeing-space.what-is-the-storage-profile","question":"What is the Storage Profile in Storage Studio?","url":"/faq/freeing-space/what-is-the-storage-profile"},{"id":"freeing-space.what-does-where-it-lives-show","question":"What does Where it lives show in the Storage Profile?","url":"/faq/freeing-space/what-does-where-it-lives-show"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"What does \"What you actually work on\" show in the Storage Profile? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"It shows the files you've opened recently — your real working set — against everything you store, by type and folder, with an expandable list you can reveal in Finder.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"Freeing up space","path":"/faq/freeing-space/"},{"name":"What does \"What you actually work on\" show in the Storage Profile?","path":"/faq/freeing-space/what-is-what-you-actually-work-on"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-is-what-you-actually-work-on","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does \"What you actually work on\" show in the Storage Profile?","alternateName":["Which files do I actually work on?","Show my working set","What files do I use most?","Recent files Storage Profile","What am I actively using on my Mac?"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It shows your real working set — the small number of files you've opened recently — compared with everything you store, for example how many files you've worked on in the last 30 days out of all those stored.\n\nIt breaks them down by type, shows the folders you work in most, and has an expandable list of the files themselves grouped by category, with each file's name, location, when it was last opened and a reveal-in-Finder button.\n\nIt's a useful way to see how much of your disk is genuinely in use — the rest is often a candidate for your fast drive. See Where it lives.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-is-what-you-actually-work-on"}}]},"fragment":"
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Freeing up space · Storage Profile, charts and Home

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What does "What you actually work on" show in the Storage Profile?

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Short answer: It shows the files you've opened recently — your real working set — against everything you store, by type and folder, with an expandable list you can reveal in Finder.

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It shows your real working set — the small number of files you've opened recently — compared with everything you store, for example how many files you've worked on in the last 30 days out of all those stored.

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It breaks them down by type, shows the folders you work in most, and has an expandable list of the files themselves grouped by category, with each file's name, location, when it was last opened and a reveal-in-Finder button.

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It's a useful way to see how much of your disk is genuinely in use — the rest is often a candidate for your fast drive. See Where it lives.

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Last reviewed

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Related questions

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Also available as Markdown and JSON.

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