How To Remove Personal Information From Macbook But Keep Apps

If you share a Mac computer with someone and want to delete a user, you can do so swiftly using the System Preferences menu.
Your Mac can have multiple administrators and dozens of users, and you can keep all their data, even after you delete them.
You have to be an administrator on the computer in question to delete a user on a Mac.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you own a Mac, your computer can have multiple administrators, and dozens of users, groups, and guests with varying account privileges and settings.

Adding and removing users on a Mac computer is easy, and can be done through System Preferences in just a few simple steps. But remember: you must be an administrator to do so.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

MacBook Pro (From $1,299 at Best Buy)

How to delete a user on a Mac using System Preferences

First of all, make sure you're logged into an administrator account.

1. Click System Preferences from the app menu at the bottom of your screen (the icon resembling silver gears), or open it by clicking the Apple logo in the top-left of your screen and selecting "System Preferences..."

2. Next, find "Users & Groups" in the System Preferences menu (it is an icon depicting two people), or search for it in the search bar at the top.

3. Click the lock at the bottom of the screen to unlock the page. You may need to enter your password to do so.

4. Select the name of the user you wish to delete.

Click on the name of the user you wish to delete, and the minus icon.

5. Click the minus icon at the bottom of the menu.

6. A pop-up menu will ask what you want to do with the user's home folder (the folder where all their files are stored, like documents, downloads, and pictures) — you can choose to delete it, save it in a "Deleted Users" folder, or let it remain in the "Users" folder.

7. Once you've chosen an option, select "Delete User."

Choose whether to delete the user's home folder, then select "Delete User."

8. The user has now been deleted. Be sure to click the lock at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to ensure no other changes can be made.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

How to change your account username on a Mac computer, if you bought a pre-owned Mac or otherwise need a name change
How to uninstall apps on a Mac computer in three different ways
How to create folders on a Mac computer and organize your files
How to change your Mac computer's password, or reset it if you've forgotten it

Meira Gebel is a freelance reporter based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about business, culture, and technology for Insider. Her work has been featured in Digital Trends, Willamette Week, USA Today, and more. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and San Francisco State University. Feel free to reach out to her on Twitter, where she can be found most of the time, @MeiraGebel.