https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/Find articles, links to purchase the latest products and projects using the popular brand Arduino on the element14 Communityen-USTelligent Community 12https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235100Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:18:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:ea304113-7d45-455a-b86d-39d654ab0c1eDABThanks for the heads up, I need to go check mine.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235078Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:33:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:efcf8c59-ab65-4451-bc6c-dab6809504c0BigGImpressive and interesting that you use cleanmgr. I like your approach. I did a quick search online for any LinuxOS options, and I discovered https://www.bleachbit.org/ It seems to be worth a try. Its also available for Windows, but not for Mac.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235074Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:18:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:0e2a6a55-6407-48a4-af26-4e59c1fb783frscMine is at 18.8GB. I use the windows built-in cleanup app called cleanmgr to find temporary install files and stuff. useage: start a command prompt window as administrator, then run: cleanmgr /sageset:1 to set up configuration of what you want to cleanup cleanmgr /sagerun:1 to executehttps://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235068Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:36:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:021f1d17-ff7c-4d3c-b0ab-5f9319ff7631dang74[quote userid="190458" url="~/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235055"]Probably should be attending "Arduinoics Anonymous" with all the boards I've got set up. [/quote] Got a good chuckle out of this.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235055Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:10:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:3528acd2-360f-405a-a85b-9bfa9b1ae7e8BigGThat's me alright. Probably should be attending "Arduinoics Anonymous" with all the boards I've got set up. Yeah, that's a good point. It may well be a result of me clutching onto 1.8.16 for so long. Only recently said farewell and deleted this version (I had both installed for a good while). Finally finding new joy with 2.3.8 although these days I'm loving VSCode + Gemini coding agent.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235052Sun, 19 Apr 2026 23:33:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:d49ff514-c8b4-4130-8cb2-71ee195088ebGough LuiMine's pretty quiet. Perhaps you're just installing way too many bloated third-party cores/board support packages and libraries ... or maybe there's somehow temporary left behind that's not being cleaned up by your version of the IDE? - Goughhttps://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235051Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:53:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:f34b4611-1b71-4115-abef-a9ac5dde6cf1BigGYes, I feel your pain. PTS when I think about all those older KiCAD libs. I still use a USB connected hard drive to archive my Arduino project files. Then it's easily transferable from one machine to the next.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235050Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:03:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:be0e780c-a315-455f-9370-67d09bc3ccccgeraldsHi, Yes. Sorry, I didn't mention that I'm using Windows 11 Pro. The current Arduino version for Windows x64 is 2.3.8. Last week I had some frustration with this – I have eight projects running simultaneously for one microcontroller, the Nano with the Atmel Mega328P. Each project has to be saved in its own folder (under the User/Documents/Arduino folder) with its own library and sketch files. And – with only one instance of the IDE! – I have to switch between the projects. I don't like working with more than one instance. It's really annoying! When setting up the projects, you have to enter the sketchbook folder in the IDE settings. Then you open the project in the project folder, and after compiling, you can program the flash memory using the Nano's USB port. But if you're not careful, you suddenly have a different project open with a new instance, but with the previous sketchbook folder. The IDE is very prone to crashing when switching between projects. Then suddenly flashing stopped working because the USB port refused to open. So, I had to delete and reinstall the USB drivers, the FTDI drivers. Ugh. The IDE simply corrupted the USB driver while I was working. Now all is working well.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235049Sun, 19 Apr 2026 19:44:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:1139be1f-4c6c-4b09-a77a-40c8b328afa8ralphjyThanks, never used the arduino-cli.yaml before to configure things. A little concerned that some software hardwires the AppData path and doesn’t look at this file. I just moved the Arduino15 directory to a larger drive and symlinked to it. That appears to work fine for both the IDE and AppLab. I was running out of space on my C drive and it turns out the Uno Q requires 10 GB of space to update the firmware. Having lots of issues with the Uno Q. The whole container thing is a blessing and a curse.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235044Sun, 19 Apr 2026 17:59:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:cfd7f9db-fffe-4890-a04b-7c8d6705529fBigGMy .arduino15 folder must be on 3 dinners a day And this is after my "spring clean"...https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235041Sun, 19 Apr 2026 16:32:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:1eb8b3ae-a6c3-41b1-a3f1-c4819f646c77balajivan1995https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235040Sun, 19 Apr 2026 16:21:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:1a1d82a2-1f7e-48a7-a47e-aeec489dedeacolporteurBG to my dismay, the Arduino folder I use is a collection of the same folder over four different machines. I suffer from a lack of foundation knowledge to manage the Arduino content. Starting out knowing nothing I did things one way. As I learned I changed my approach. This wash-rinse repeat approach tends to create a content mess. My greatest fear is having to do something more than once and having to relearn how it is done. Therefore keep everything and hope hunting through the bread crumbs of the past will trigger memories. I constantly look at the content of four folders, Arduino, KiCAD, Inkscape and scribus thinking man wouldn't it be nice to Spring Clean them. I shudder and think maybe someday if I am bed bound:)https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235037Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:36:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:89bffe8e-1713-4b29-8ba0-88e96f0c6a03BigGHi ralphjy Apparently you can move the Arduino15 location based on this Arduino forum post: forum.arduino.cc/.../5https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235036Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:34:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:50f0c83c-eb2f-42cd-aece-e4a2917630d4BigGThat's a great analysis. Thanks. I think the irony of it all is that the more frequent you keep boards and libraries updated the worse it gets. I found in my case that the big staging library folder hoggers were Adafruit and lvgl libs as they have quite frequent updates, and then with packages it seemed to be esp32 and the Arduino giga board files.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235035Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:22:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:6ef47532-4de1-4d6b-a7a5-7ec9e6221a67beacon_daveSounds like a job for a directory junction.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235034Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:11:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:7f645437-903a-4f73-832c-9e535fe93b94ralphjySince I started using the Uno Q and AppLab, I recently stumbled upon the same issue. It's a pain to always have to manually delete the staging files. I'm going to see if I can relocate Arduino15 to another drive. I am using Windows, so it's currently in AppData/Local. It would be nice if Arduino would let you set the Arduino15 file location.https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235032Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:42:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:9a902f39-79f4-43cc-8456-8a9e8465fee4dougwI'm wondering if there is something similar on Windows - I don't see anything...https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folder/235030Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:29:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:0ffaf20f-15f7-4dc5-902f-93568eae4b3egeraldsHi BigG Well actually my Arduino15 folder uses about 4,5 GB space. The subfolders under staging are libraries (138MB) and packages (807MB), which have the most contents. Under Arduino15 the IDE stores all downloaded installation files as well the IDE using remote sketchbooks, cloud build projects (connected to Arduino project website), etc.... Then you have the Arduino ide update folder, which contains the IDE installation files. Under the user-document folders you have your own Arduino project folders, which also explode by project to project. And in the user temp folder you have the opened projects which will not closed and not deleted automatically after closing the IDE. ---....---- and so on...https://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56862/how-large-is-your-hidden-arduino-folderSun, 19 Apr 2026 12:08:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:5a2635f3-0162-4954-9004-117c1bade27cBigGI've been doing a different sort of spring cleaning this weekend. As my disk drive is almost full, I ran the Linux disk usage analyser tool on my Home folder and revealed, unsurprisingly, that the .arduino15 folder was the main culprit (being the "brains" behind it all). This was due to the staging folder, which was well over 15GB! It turns out that the contents of this literal "staging" folder is really just a type of cache should you want to reinstall stuff again. It appears there is no automated means of cleaning. So, if you haven't touched yours what size has yours grown too - it's indicative of how extensive you use it (bragging rights, I suppose :-D). What other tricks do you use to automate disk usage spring cleaning.arduino_development_environmentspring_cleanhttps://community.element14.com/products/arduino/f/arduino-forum/56858/the-arduino-matter--/235014Sat, 18 Apr 2026 22:05:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:83e6d388-98dc-42fc-9573-d2b8fa14ee26BigGAnswer found in here: https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-sheets/mgm240s-datasheet.pdf