How To Free Up Space On iCloud Drive

macmost.com/e-3122 If your iCloud Drive space is full, then you can clear space by moving files to your local internal drive's storage or an external archive drive. Learn how to do free up space on iCloud Drive.
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00:00 Intro
00:43 Moving Files To Your Local Internal Drive
02:25 How To Move Files To Your Local Internal Drive
04:30 Moving Files To an External Drive
05:44 How To Move Files To an External Drive
06:27 What About If You Are Using Optimize Mac Storage?
09:10 Maybe Delete Files Instead?
09:48 What If You Have Lots Of iCloud Space But Little Local Space?
#macmost #mactutorial

[@willardroad]

Gary, you have done it again! I commend you for nailing the combo many content creators miss, which is frequency AND solid content. I've been a Mac user and Mac tech support person for more than 30 years, yet I still learn things from your videos. Small wonder why I recommend your channel to all the Mac users I know, young & old. This one, about iCloud, is a real hot topic and you've done a great job of explaining it. Two thumbs up.

[@dgvisual7476]

This is the best way to get people to buy more space on Apple's iCloud instead of accidentally destroying files in this sea of confusion. All this despite the fact that Gary's videos are professionally crystal clear.

[@richard1113]

I love videos like this because even if I don't have the problem right now it reminds me of my options so I can evaluate how I'm doing things.

[@annacoffee]

Didn’t even realise there was a Home folder! This will be a great help

[@georgee3401]

Excellent tutorial. This video answered some questions I had about storage problems. Many thanks!

[@iankastelic5146]

Very clear visualization! Thank you!

[@fahadsharef610]

Another nice one. I am very familiar with iCloud Drive however this tutorial has reminded me to do some clean up and refreshed my knowledge. Thanks again for these great videos.

[@carolinebarlow4795]

Thanks very much, Gary, for this informative video! Great idea to set up a local folder.

[@victory75092]

Thanks. Great video.

[@fly-pedro]

Very useful, thank you.

[@raycollington4310]

I still think Apple could make iCloud Drive easier to understand and it seems to they just want to suck you into spending more money.

[@davidpatrick1813]

perfect timing .. I get confused as to when it says leave on divide .. and what I want is to remove from cloud (originals) and in storage, on one of the devices .. and later manage.. which think you cover. I just do not want to loose pictures ... that disappear from my own copies.. because of some tricky setting ...... tanks. pat

[@Mr.-J-2024]

Thank you Gary. Would you be able to do a video on how Messages uses up iCloud storage and how to back old messages up to make space? Messages is warning me I have little space left. Although I did a search on your channel, I could not find any previous videos on this. If I missed it, would you please reply with a link to the video you made of this. Thanks.

[@macmost]

I would simply just delete old conversations from the Messages app. Do you really have a specific need for saving them? Or is it just specific things, like bits of information, you need saved? Maybe get in the habit of treating Messages as temporary so if someone sends you an important piece of information or a photo, save that immediately so I know you can delete it at any time.

[@Quince828]

@@macmostI’ve been wondering how to deal with the same thing. My family sends me videos of events in Messenger that I want to hang on to. But my iPad has warnings that storage is full so I can’t download the videos nor can I get rid of whatever it is in system files that is taking up so much room. Thus messages pile up. Ideally I’d want to store the video or pictures on my external drive and thus free up space in both iCloud and iPad.

[@macmost]

@@Quince828 So you are out of space both on iCloud and on your iPad? You've got to get more space somewhere. Consider a larger iCloud plan. Do you not have another device besides your iPad, like a Mac? You can tap any image in Messages to view to closer, then tap the action button (box with arrow), then Save To Files. Then save to iCloud Drive or an external connected drive if you really want to do that.

[@Quince828]

@@macmost thanks for the help. I’d like to download them to a folder on my iMac which has lots of room or to a connected external drive, since external drives cannot be used on iPad. The messages don’t show up on my iMac for some reason and I’ve tried backing up the iPad to the Mac but it’s not clear where in fact those backups are kept.

[@macmost]

@@Quince828 Perhaps you haven't enable iCloud Messages on your Mac then? System Settings, Apple ID, iCloud, More App, Messages In iCloud.

[@AndyCorkum]

Thanks Gary. Your videos are outstanding. Can you give some tips about Messages app storage. Our family plan icloud is more than half full with Message data. Some tips to manage and reduce this would be greatly appreciated.

[@macmost]

Try to get into this habit: If someone sends you an image, video or document then if you want to keep it, save it somewhere. Either way, delete it from Messages.

[@RobSandstromDesigns]

Appreciate your videos. thank you. This was good relative to iclour drive but how do I see all of the videos and pictures in my photos app on my mac so I could get rid of old videos or move them to local storage. I have them taking up almost a TB of storage. A similar question, I turned on family sharing and my daughter has lots of photo sotrage - how do I take her stuff and move them to a local drive for heer to use vs. taking up my cloud storage.

[@macmost]

If your photos and videos are in iCloud, and you are using iCloud Photos on your Mac, you should see them all in the Photos app. If you really want to remove photos from iCloud Photos (family or not) you need to export them from the Photos library and then delete them in the Photos library. Be careful.

[@RobSandstromDesigns]

@@macmost thank you

[@bernardoco]

Gary, what's the purpose of the App folders in iCloud? For example, Pages has a folder in iCloud. Is it recommended to use it for Pages files or is it only optional?

[@macmost]

Originally the iOS/iPadOS apps didn't access the whole iCloud Drive, just their own folders. Those folders remain as a default location and some people like to organize that way, saving all documents of one type to one folder. I don't use them at all myself and you don't n need to either.

[@bernardoco]

@@macmost thank you, Gary!

[@Keyboardnut99]

Perhaps you should mention when you move files off of iCloud make sure you have a BACKUP!

[@macmost]

You should have a backup whether they are on iCloud or not. Before moving, or even if you aren't doing anything with them. Always have a backup/

[@augustya7543]

So Gary is it a good idea to keep the Optimise Mac Storage on the Mac on ?

[@macmost]

Depends on your situation and what you want. If you have plenty of space to store everything you have in iCloud Drive + Photos locally, then you may want it off. If not, then you pretty much have to have it on.

[@augustya7543]

@@macmost I don't have plenty of space in my iCloud drive I just have the default 5GB space that Apple Provides. And I have a 500GB SSD Mac. So what do you reckon should I do ? Right now my iCloud Drive is full and last so many days I have been trying to do something about it, make some space there and not to do so, besides buying more iCloud drive space. So what do you reckon should I keep it On or off ?

[@macmost]

@@augustya7543 So you have less than 5 GB of stuff in iCloud Drive and 500 GB on your Mac. Then you can do either one. I'd have it off. But that won't do anything at all to solve your problem of iCloud Drive being full. You are looking at it backwards. The only ways to solve that is to use iCloud Drive less or up your storage plan. What's wrong with spending 99 cents per month if it helps you get more from your Mac?

[@mikezaks4507]

I just moved off all my i cloud Documents - worked perfectly. Thank you very much! Now I still have my desktop items (files/folders) on my iCloud drive. How can I remove them from iCloud and have them displayed on my desktop. I tried the same method as the documents transformation - it worked (appeared in my home folder), but these files no longer were visible on my desktop ... any suggestions ?

[@macmost]

If you want to have your Desktop file on your Desktop but not in iCloud Drive, then your only option is to have iCloud's "Desktop & Documents" option turned off. Move the Desktop files to a folder in your Home folder first to avoid confusion, then turn it off and move them back.

[@herohour6496]

Do you have a video on how to Transfer all my iPhone photos/videos that's on iCloud to my External Drive? I want to do it safely and not lose anything. Thank you.

[@macmost]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKKcZpaYeq6Si9E

[@ruralbodger]

are the same videos on Patreon?

[@macmost]

No. You can see all videos at my site (macmost.com) and which are there and which play at Patreon only. They are clearly marked.

[@fahadsharef610]

I see, my Documents folder is synced but not all my Home folder. Thanks.

[@macmost]

When your Documents folder is part of iCloud Drive, it is no longer in your Home folder.

[@janettesartmood]

Ok, maybe I'm missing something, but I have iCloud drive so I can get to all my stuff on all my devices (iPhone, Laptop, iPad). If I move anything to my local folder on my desktop, not only do I lose that access, but I also risk losing the data altogether if my desktop hard drive decides to crash (unless I have a backup, which I do, but being paranoid I always want to have at least two backups)

[@macmost]

Yes, you are right. This video is for people that want to get things off of iCloud Drive because they are low on iCloud Drive space. Doesn't seem to be the case with you (or me) so probably not something you'd need to do.

[@janettesartmood]

@@macmost thanks, just wanted to make sure 😊

[@fahadsharef610]

How can moving items from my iCloud Drive to my local Document folder free any space in iCloud if my Document folder is being synced with my iCloud? All I am doing is just changing the location of the item moved.

[@macmost]

Watch again. Anything in your Home folder is NOT in iCloud Drive. I'm suggesting creating a "Local Documents" folder (or any name you like) in your Home folder. Anything in there is NOT in iCloud Drive.

[@loisskiathitis8926]

A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤

[@TroyArn]

there are hundreds of iMessage photos on iCloud, but no way to easily see the photos, select and delete photos, or mass copy them to a folder on the Mac. it's infuriating. do you have a solution to this?

[@macmost]

I just did a video on this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZepq6awe7l8rqs

[@michaeldavidson8971]

When you download an app from the app store and then decide you don’t want it, after deleting it from your iPad it’s still stored in iCloud, how do you delete that?

[@macmost]

Not sure what you mean. It isn't stored in iCloud. It is just available for you to download again from the App Store.

[@macmost]

Not sure what you mean. It isn't stored in iCloud. It is just available in the App Store for you to download again.

[@michaeldavidson8971]

@@macmost Then why when I go into the App Store and find an app that I had on my iPad but deleted there is no GET button instead there is a cloud with a down arrow?

[@macmost]

@@michaeldavidson8971 That's just what the button looks like. The app is available for you to download. It is in Apple's store, not using space in your iCloud storage.

[@JacarandaMusic]

Ha. I literally just now upgraded to 50GB iCloud.

[@mvl6827]

I am getting rid of iCloud altogether. Too much of a money making service in my view.

[@ladyleo94]

How would you go about doing this? I definitely don’t need it, I checked my storage and it was so full then I checked my phone storage and it was barely anything on there! More money less work for them!

[@mvl6827]

@@ladyleo94 I moved all my fotos and folders back to my phone. Making sure the I got the original resolution and not some diluted version that Apple keeps on your phone after moving the original to iCloud. Once that was done satisfactorily I cancelled iCloud. My photos and videos took up a lot of space on my phone. So I copied them all to my computer. Than deleted a lot on my phone. You then also have to delete the 'delete' album to create more space.