# Scan your Mac, your home folder or any folder

> Start a scan from the home screen or the sidebar, scan external drives, rescan, cancel, scan automatically at launch and exclude folders.

- URL: https://moreroom.app/support/scan-your-mac
- Topic: Getting started
- Updated: 2026-10-17
- Publisher: MoreRoom (Yando Pte. Ltd.) — https://moreroom.app

## In short

- MoreRoom never reads your disk until you ask. On the home screen, click Scan My Mac, Home Folder or Choose a Folder….
- After a scan, the sidebar’s Locations list lets you scan another disk or folder; File › Rescan (⌘R) refreshes the results in the background.
- Nothing is changed while MoreRoom looks around. Folders listed in Settings › Exclusions are never scanned or cleaned.

## How to scan

1. **Open the home screen.** When MoreRoom opens, it shows your Mac’s name, a ring with the space used on the startup disk and how much is available.
2. **Choose what to scan.** Click Scan My Mac for the whole startup disk, Home Folder for your user folder, or Choose a Folder… to pick any folder or drive.
3. **Wait a few seconds.** MoreRoom counts files and bytes as it goes, then matches what it found against its rules. Click Cancel (or press Esc) to stop and go back.
4. **Explore the results.** The map opens. Use the sidebar to switch between the map, Free Up Space, System Data and the other views.

## The home screen

When you open MoreRoom, nothing is scanned yet. The home screen shows your startup disk at a glance, read instantly from macOS:

- a ring with the space **used** and the disk’s total size, and how much is **available**;
- three buttons: **Scan My Mac**, **Home Folder** and **Choose a Folder…**;
- the **Last scan** card, with a **Scan Again** button;
- a **Storage Weather** card with the forecast for your disk;
- whether there’s room for the next macOS update, and any [ghost space](https://moreroom.app/support/ghost-space).

While a scan runs, **Cancel** brings you back to the home screen; the **Overview** item at the top of the sidebar does the same.

## What each scan covers

| Button | Scans | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| **Scan My Mac** | The whole startup disk (Macintosh HD) | Seeing everything, System Data explained, goal mode |
| **Home Folder** | Your user folder | A quicker look at your own files and caches |
| **Choose a Folder…** | Any folder or drive you pick | A project, an external disk, a NAS share |

A scan of a whole Mac usually takes seconds to a minute, depending on the number of files. While it runs, MoreRoom shows the files and bytes counted so far and, when it can estimate it, a progress ring. **Nothing is changed while MoreRoom looks around.**

## Scan another disk or folder

The sidebar’s **Locations** list shows your home folder, every mounted disk (with its free space and a usage bar), and **Scan a Folder…**. Click one to scan it. You can also choose **File › Scan Folder…** (`⌘O`).

## Rescan

**File › Rescan** (`⌘R`) or the circular arrow in the toolbar scans the same place again in the background. The current results stay on screen until the new ones are ready, and the folder you were looking at stays selected.

## Scan automatically at launch

By default MoreRoom opens on its home screen. To start a scan every time it opens, choose **MoreRoom › Settings…** › **General** › **Scan automatically at launch**, and pick **Home folder** or **Macintosh HD**.

## Exclude folders

Folders you add to **Settings › Exclusions** (under “Never scanned or cleaned”) are skipped entirely. Click **+** to add one, **–** to remove it, then **Rescan**: changes apply on the next scan. MoreRoom never removes anything inside an excluded folder, even if it was found by an earlier scan.

## Without Full Disk Access

If you chose **Scan Without Full Access**, protected folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Photos, Mail, Messages, other apps’ data…) are skipped and the scanned total is lower than the space really used. See [Grant Full Disk Access](https://moreroom.app/support/full-disk-access).

## Related articles

- [Explore your disk: map, rings, list and inspector](https://moreroom.app/support/map-rings-list.md)
- [Grant Full Disk Access to MoreRoom](https://moreroom.app/support/full-disk-access.md)
- [A scan seems slow or stuck](https://moreroom.app/support/scan-slow-or-stuck.md)
- [MoreRoom settings explained](https://moreroom.app/support/settings.md)

## Still need help?

Write to us: a real person reads every message and answers within 2 business days. https://moreroom.app/contact