For this purpose, you’ll need a bootable flash drive (USB) with El Capitan on it. Step 2: Make an OS X El Capitan installer into a bootable driveīefore you proceed directly to macOS downgrade, you’ll need OS X El Capitan installer ready for launch. You can find it in Settings > Time Machine. This is a general Mac backup, and you can restore all your files by the end of the reinstallation process. Now, you can move the rest of them to an external drive or cloud storage, like DropBox or iCloud.Īlso, it’s vital to have a Time Machine backup for all your files before you proceed. Run the scan to find stuff on your Mac you might want to get rid of quickly.

After you download and install it, look in the left-hand menu for the Large & Old files tab. An app like CleanMyMac X is a good fit for the job. You can make use of a Mac cleaner to get rid of the files you no longer need. To begin with, make sure you’re backing up the files you actually need, not some old trashy stuff that you’d be better off without. If you still need them, you should back them up. While you downgrade your Mac, it will be cleansed from the files you’ve worked on since you installed Sierra. IMPORTANT: Do not proceed before you have this guide opened on some other device or printed out! If you want to reinstall El Capitan to the very Mac you’re reading this on right now, please make sure to have this page opened anywhere else or even print out the instructions. We’ve prepared a full tutorial on how to remove macOS Sierra from your Mac and revert back to El Capitan OS.įirst, let’s figure out how to reinstall macOS without losing data. How to remove macOS Sierra and go back to OS X 10.11 Follow our guide on how to downgrade macOS Sierra and familiar OS X and wait for another update (or don’t). In any case, you don’t have to endure Sierra if, for whatever reason, you don’t feel like it at this point. But this macOS has its bugs and troubles: some apps and hardware pieces are incompatible with it, and some features are off-putting rather than appealing. Just like most of us, you’ve probably jumped on the Sierra bandwagon and upgraded, expecting cool features and a boost in performance. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

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