topic Re: Prevent Spotify from saving local data in Desktop (Windows)

Prevent Spotify from saving local data

demontjd — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 11:29:56 GMT

Hello everyone,

I'm using the Spotify desktop application for Win 7. Spotify saves several gb under AppData\Local\Spotify\Data. I can delete this data, but right after I do so, Spotify saves data there again.

Is there a way to prevent Spotify from saving data locally?

Thank you for your answers

Re: Prevent Spotify from saving local data

dinomight — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 15:35:27 GMT

Hey @demontjd,

It looks like you're experiencing Spotify's caching behavior. Unfortunately, there isn't currently any kind of setting in the desktop software that would make it easy to limit this. Please check out this page for more information on managing storage on various devices. I know you already figured out that you can delete that folder to clear the cache, but please note that it's also possible to change the storage location from Spotify's settings. I have an older Surface device with limited storage space, and I actually have Spotify set up on there to store the cache on an SD card, so something like that could be a potential solution for you if you're needing to conserve some space.

Re: Prevent Spotify from saving local data

demontjd — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 15:59:18 GMT

Thank you very much for your response.

Unfortunately changing the path for local data storage (as mentioned in the link you posted) only affects some of the folders in AppData\Local\Spotify. The Data folder (by far the biggest) is still there...

So I may need to delete this folder from time to time.

Re: Prevent Spotify from saving local data

Xenia — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 15:10:44 GMT

Hey @demontjd,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop! We'll be happy to shed some light on the situation.

Right now, there's no way to change the location where the cached data gets saved on desktop. This is only possible for songs you download for offline listening.

Keep in mind that if this is something you'd like to be able to do in the app, you can also consider adding your +VOTE to this idea. The Community team is actively bringing your feedback to the internal teams at Spotify - check how here.

If you have any other questions we're always one post away 🙂

Cheers!