{"id":"performance-battery.when-does-automatic-choose-rich","url":"/faq/performance-battery/when-does-automatic-choose-rich","category":{"id":"performance-battery","title":"Performance & battery"},"subcategory":{"id":"performance-modes","title":"Performance modes"},"question":"When does Automatic mode choose Rich?","alt_questions":["Why is my Mac never in Rich mode?","Why does Auto pick Good instead of Rich?","storage studio rich mode on battery","What does my Mac need for Rich mode?"],"short_answer":"Automatic picks Rich only on a well-equipped, mostly idle Mac that's plugged in with Low Power Mode off. On battery it stops at Good, which still shows full content and charts. You can choose Rich yourself.","answer_markdown":"Automatic only picks **Rich** — the level with the most background budget and full effects — when your Mac is plugged in, Low Power Mode is off, the Mac has plenty of processor cores and memory, and it's mostly idle. On battery it caps itself at **Good**, so it never spends battery on maximum background work.\n\nSo it's normal for a laptop on battery, or a smaller Mac, to sit at **Auto · Good** most of the time. Good still shows full content and charts.\n\nIf you want Rich anyway, choose it from the [performance menu](/faq/performance-battery/how-do-i-change-the-performance-mode).","answer_html":"

Automatic only picks Rich — the level with the most background budget and full effects — when your Mac is plugged in, Low Power Mode is off, the Mac has plenty of processor cores and memory, and it's mostly idle. On battery it caps itself at Good, so it never spends battery on maximum background work.

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So it's normal for a laptop on battery, or a smaller Mac, to sit at Auto · Good most of the time. Good still shows full content and charts.

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If you want Rich anyway, choose it from the performance menu.

","answer_text":"Automatic only picks Rich — the level with the most background budget and full effects — when your Mac is plugged in, Low Power Mode is off, the Mac has plenty of processor cores and memory, and it's mostly idle. On battery it caps itself at Good, so it never spends battery on maximum background work.\n\nSo it's normal for a laptop on battery, or a smaller Mac, to sit at Auto · Good most of the time. Good still shows full content and charts.\n\nIf you want Rich anyway, choose it from the performance menu.","tags":["rich mode","automatic","battery"],"related":[{"id":"performance-battery.what-does-auto-good-mean","question":"What does \"Auto · Good\" or \"Auto · Light\" mean in Storage Studio?","url":"/faq/performance-battery/what-does-auto-good-mean"},{"id":"performance-battery.does-storage-studio-run-faster-when-plugged-in","question":"Does Storage Studio do more when my Mac is plugged in?","url":"/faq/performance-battery/does-storage-studio-run-faster-when-plugged-in"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"When does Automatic mode choose Rich? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"Automatic picks Rich only on a well-equipped, mostly idle Mac that's plugged in with Low Power Mode off. On battery it stops at Good, which still shows full content and charts. You can choose Rich yourself.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"Performance & battery","path":"/faq/performance-battery/"},{"name":"When does Automatic mode choose Rich?","path":"/faq/performance-battery/when-does-automatic-choose-rich"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/performance-battery/when-does-automatic-choose-rich","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"When does Automatic mode choose Rich?","alternateName":["Why is my Mac never in Rich mode?","Why does Auto pick Good instead of Rich?","storage studio rich mode on battery","What does my Mac need for Rich mode?"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Automatic only picks Rich — the level with the most background budget and full effects — when your Mac is plugged in, Low Power Mode is off, the Mac has plenty of processor cores and memory, and it's mostly idle. On battery it caps itself at Good, so it never spends battery on maximum background work.\n\nSo it's normal for a laptop on battery, or a smaller Mac, to sit at Auto · Good most of the time. Good still shows full content and charts.\n\nIf you want Rich anyway, choose it from the performance menu.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/performance-battery/when-does-automatic-choose-rich"}}]},"fragment":"
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Performance & battery · Performance modes

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When does Automatic mode choose Rich?

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Short answer: Automatic picks Rich only on a well-equipped, mostly idle Mac that's plugged in with Low Power Mode off. On battery it stops at Good, which still shows full content and charts. You can choose Rich yourself.

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Automatic only picks Rich — the level with the most background budget and full effects — when your Mac is plugged in, Low Power Mode is off, the Mac has plenty of processor cores and memory, and it's mostly idle. On battery it caps itself at Good, so it never spends battery on maximum background work.

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So it's normal for a laptop on battery, or a smaller Mac, to sit at Auto · Good most of the time. Good still shows full content and charts.

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If you want Rich anyway, choose it from the performance menu.

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Last reviewed

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