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Monolingual for Mac

Remove unwanted OS X language resources.

Free
In English
3.5
Based on 127 user rates

Monolingual overview

Monolingual is a program for removing unnecesary language resources from OS X, in order to reclaim several hundred megabytes of disk space. If you use your computer in only one (human) language, you may not need to be taking up space on your hard drive with extraneous localization files. Monolingual will locate and eliminate these space-wasting files.

Monolingual was written by J. Schrier and I. Stein, and is released under the GNU General Public License. Source code is available.

What’s new in version 1.8.2

Version 1.8.2:
  • Fixed size reporting issue
View older Monolingual versions

Monolingual for Mac

Free
In English
Version 1.8.2

What users say about Monolingual

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3.5

(294 Reviews of Monolingual)

  • Comments

  • User Ratings

r-puscau
r-puscau
Aug 15 2023
1.8.2
0.0
Aug 15 2023
0.0
Version: 1.8.2
Download from the homepage of the author. The file you can download here is something different, no idea what but it does not run under Catalina.
Aargl
Aargl
Jan 2 2021
1.8.2
4.0
Jan 2 2021
4.0
Version: 1.8.2
I think I hadn't used Monolingual since the PPC times... :-) I ran v1.7.3 last week on my 10.11 main OS and gained 4 Gb (about 2 for languages and 2 for unused arch, if I recall well — I still have a lot of UB apps). I believe it's ok to remove languages, but be very cautious for architectures: I had no major issue, but it clearly did hit the 32 bits only apps, bundles, extensions, libraries, etc. and made them unusable. In the end, I've restored such apps and all /Library and didn't lose much space so I guess it's better to uncheck Architectures for /Library in the prefs and add sensitive apps too. Strange enough, I had no issue with Adobe apps! My advice to spot damaged elements: open Console and search for 'wrong architecture', then reinstall or restore what's needed. I'm still using old CleanApp 3 to cleanup one app at a time, never found an alternative.
suzannetourtillott
suzannetourtillott
Jul 23 2020
1.8.2
2.0
Jul 23 2020
2.0
Version: 1.8.2
The concept is good—a knowledgeable friend recommended it, and we both work from Macs. When I saw that Monolingual was removing language stuff from Microsoft, I realized I needed to keep French, so I cancelled the operation mid-purge. Running it again resulted in 0 bytes of space saved. Deleting it, emptied trash, restarted the computer then re-downloaded and re-launched a fresh ML only gave the same 0 results. No idea what to do know, or even how to get help.
NedC
NedC
May 29 2020
1.8.2
1.0
May 29 2020
1.0
Version: 1.8.2
Would be nice if it would allow to install the Utility Helper app. I have the same on my laptop and it runs fine. What's the difference to my imac?
Aapple
Aapple
Feb 12 2019
1.8.2
2.0
Feb 12 2019
2.0
Version: 1.8.2
I tried this today. I ran it in the mode to remove unused architectures. I removed all except the Intel arch's keeping both 64bit and 32bit.

After running a few minutes, the finder froze and I had to restert finder. The dock still was not working right so I rebooted and used AppDelete to remove all of it.

I see in the FAQ that some things should not be touched, but there seems to be no way to disable touching Adobe apps, for example. (At least I do not see it in the preferences.) It would be nice to be able to select one app to see what it does without going thru the entire disk, but that seems not to be an option.

I also notice that even on applications where nothing is removed, it changes the date stamps of the files thus making them have to be re-backed up.

Overall it just seems too dangerous to me for the minimal amount of savings. That said, I am not sure how much it got done because I had to kill it due to the finder issues, but it probably did what it claims to do, otherwise it would be one star. Sorry. (10.13.6 is my OS, 1.8.2 is my version)
Aargl
Aargl
Jan 2 2021
4.0
Jan 2 2021
4.0
Version: null
suzannetourtillott
suzannetourtillott
Jul 23 2020
2.0
Jul 23 2020
2.0
Version: null
NedC
NedC
May 29 2020
1.0
May 29 2020
1.0
Version: null
mprenfro
mprenfro
Aug 23 2019
2.0
Aug 23 2019
2.0
Version: null
betty-4
betty-4
Mar 12 2019
2.5
Mar 12 2019
2.5
Version: null
moore-work
moore-work
Mar 9 2019
5.0
Mar 9 2019
5.0
Version: null
Aapple
Aapple
Feb 12 2019
2.0
Feb 12 2019
2.0
Version: null
hmfwic47
hmfwic47
Feb 11 2019
0.5
Feb 11 2019
0.5
Version: null
Pokeyjoe
Pokeyjoe
Dec 23 2018
4.5
Dec 23 2018
4.5
Version: null
Fking
Fking
Dec 23 2018
4.5
Dec 23 2018
4.5
Version: null
Acheteur
Acheteur
Nov 1 2018
5.0
Nov 1 2018
5.0
Version: null
Balleatomique
Balleatomique
Jun 12 2018
2.5
Jun 12 2018
2.5
Version: null
jack2001
jack2001
May 22 2018
0.5
May 22 2018
0.5
Version: null
georgecxole
georgecxole
Apr 26 2018
5.0
Apr 26 2018
5.0
Version: null
smiffy56
smiffy56
Mar 24 2018
0.5
Mar 24 2018
0.5
Version: null
anonymous-trout-1840
anonymous-trout-1840
Mar 16 2018
4.0
Mar 16 2018
4.0
Version: null
Dirtbagg
Dirtbagg
Mar 14 2018
3.5
Mar 14 2018
3.5
Version: null
stevenortonson
stevenortonson
Feb 14 2018
4.0
Feb 14 2018
4.0
Version: null
barmaleydos
barmaleydos
Dec 4 2017
4.5
Dec 4 2017
4.5
Version: null
Mikael-B
Mikael-B
May 11 2017
4.0
May 11 2017
4.0
Version: null
Jettyboy
Jettyboy
Apr 27 2017
1.0
Apr 27 2017
1.0
Version: null
Dr-Franknfurter
Dr-Franknfurter
Apr 26 2017
1.0
Apr 26 2017
1.0
Version: null
tfigs
tfigs
Feb 9 2017
0.5
Feb 9 2017
0.5
Version: null
GeogProf
GeogProf
Feb 9 2017
5.0
Feb 9 2017
5.0
Version: null
John-P-Hughes
John-P-Hughes
Jan 3 2017
1.0
Jan 3 2017
1.0
Version: null
PM-R
PM-R
Dec 22 2016
4.5
Dec 22 2016
4.5
Version: null
The_Blinded
The_Blinded
Dec 16 2016
5.0
Dec 16 2016
5.0
Version: null
tmanno7
tmanno7
Nov 14 2016
1.0
Nov 14 2016
1.0
Version: null
jimlivingston72
jimlivingston72
Sep 24 2016
5.0
Sep 24 2016
5.0
Version: null
Helen-S
Helen-S
Aug 2 2016
3.0
Aug 2 2016
3.0
Version: null
Sean-Smith
Sean-Smith
Mar 29 2016
5.0
Mar 29 2016
5.0
Version: null
Guest
Guest
Oct 24 2015
1.0
Oct 24 2015
1.0
Version: null
TR2
TR2
Oct 7 2015
4.0
Oct 7 2015
4.0
Version: null
MasterMuffinBDK
MasterMuffinBDK
Sep 2 2015
4.0
Sep 2 2015
4.0
Version: null
anonymous-chameleon-5381
Apr 3 2015
0.5
Version: null
anonymous-thrush-1135
anonymous-thrush-1135
Jan 31 2015
1.0
Jan 31 2015
1.0
Version: null
DirkTheMenace
DirkTheMenace
Dec 27 2014
1.5
Dec 27 2014
1.5
Version: null
dalesorel
dalesorel
Nov 4 2014
1.0
Nov 4 2014
1.0
Version: null
gmsingh
gmsingh
Oct 18 2014
0.5
Oct 18 2014
0.5
Version: null
Dgfarrar
Dgfarrar
Oct 17 2014
5.0
Oct 17 2014
5.0
Version: null