![Save space on your hard drive: Delete unwanted speech voices from your Mac [OS X Tips]](https://www.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Speech-Voices.jpg "Save space on your hard drive: Delete unwanted speech voices from your Mac [OS X Tips]")
Hard drive space is at a premium these days, with files getting larger and solid state drives (SSD) becoming more affordable and ubiquitous. I’m typing on a MacBook Air right now, and making sure I don’t clutter up the drive with unnecessary files is important to me.
One way to do this is to get rid of the voices that Mac OS X uses for text-to-speech. These files can take up a decent amount of space, which may well be why iOS only allows the one onboard, now that I think about it.
Anyway, if you’re not using those text-to-speech voices, you might as well clear them off your drive and save some space. Here’s how.
Free up tons more space on your Mac hard drive
Don’t stop with purging the text-to-speech voices on your Mac. You can free up massive amounts of space by getting rid of files you no longer want or need. CleanMyMac makes it simple and fast to delete unwanted files.
If you want to get rid of the whole kit and caboodle at once, launch Terminal from the Applications folder, the dock, or with an app launching system, like Alfred. Type or paste the following command:
cd /System/Library/Speech/
This will change the directory (cd) you’re focusing on to the one in which the speech files are contained. To delete them all, simply type or paste the following:
sudo rm -rf Voices/*
This will dump every single text-to-speech voice on your system, so don’t do it if you want to keep one or more voices. In that case, navigate to the /System/Library/Speech/Voices/ folder on your hard drive and delete the voices you aren’t going to use, like Cello, or Bahh. Because, really, how often do you have your Mac read to you in the sound of string instruments or sheep?
Via: OS X Daily
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
5 responses to “Save space on your hard drive: Delete unwanted speech voices from your Mac [OS X Tips]”
Well I think that is not totally correct. Only few languages are onboard when you install Mountain Lion. Mostly English voices (even not all of them). Most of the about 80 languages must be downloaded if you want to use them. I had to download the French voices (I’am French) and the Thai voice too (I’m learning Thai). There an interface for that in the System Preferences panes. Even if each language has a folder in the System Library (Speech/Voices), the folder is only few Ko (like Princess, Ralph, Kathy, Trinoids…} to some 100 Ko, and some rare times about 1 Mo to 1,5 Mo. Just check the size of the folder one by one. If you download the voice, in my case Narisa (Thai), the folder is 351 Mo. In some case the voice could take more than 800 Mo. That’s a lot but only with pre-installed or downloaded voices, that is a choice you make yourself.
Thanks!
I happened to delete all Voices by using the above method. My intention was to keep one voice but I didn’t read the last bit of the article. How do I get one back?
I happened to delete all Voices by using the above method. My intention was to keep one voice but I didn’t read the last bit of the article. How do I get one back?
For the same issue in windows i am using “DuplicateFilesDeleter”.