Uninstalled games, disk/storage space still not freed (plus some Steam ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I discovered)

[Luscious Lasagna]

So just recently I've been trying to make room for the newly released Elden Ring (which is 60 GB, by the way) by uninstalling several games I haven't played in a long time, but my PC's available storage space does not expand as though I never uninstalled those games in the first place. While Googling the problem I followed the common suggestion of going to D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common and deleting any folders that belong to the uninstalled games in the "common" folder. But no luck, because when I uninstall a game its respective folder disappears as soon as Steam finishes uninstalling it (which still doesn't free up space). I tried downloading and using WinDirStrat to try and locate the offending files, but no luck either.

Then I tried uninstalling a game not by right clicking a game in the library page, then clicking Manage > Uninstall as I did at first, but by doing so through the new Storage Manager found in Settings > Downloads. After that, storage space was finally freed up.

I literally had to fight the urge to punch a hole through my screen in frustration. Because it turns out that for some unfathomable ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reason, uninstalling games through the library page does not free up storage space, but with Storage Manager it does, despite the fact that both methods should have the same result. Now there is 100+ GB of storage space that is near impossible to free up because I uninstalled 100+ GB worth of games through the library page, and the people at Steam were too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ incompetent to make sure uninstalling games through the library page actually frees up space as it is supposed to.

halp pls

[Delisper]

Perhaps reinstall one of the games, and then uninstall using your new method (via Storage Manager). Am not great with computers, but assume the install will just overwrite the old remaining files. Then delete them with your new method.

Maybe someone else can think of a more speedy method for removing all the remaining bits of those uninstalled games.