How to use iCloud Drive on the Mac

[@otter-pro]

I'm on iCloud 2TB plan, because wife keeps running out of storage on her phone, but didn't think too much about storage, which I could definitely use. Thanks for the tips

[@minor-co]

Glad I could help!

[@NancyWorrell]

Excellent presentations on iCloud Drive. I've been using iphone and ipad for probably 10 years or more -- and never felt like I had a handle on how to use it. Just bought a MacBook and decided I needed to revisit iCloud. I think now I finally understand how to use it. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@minor-co]

Great to hear the video helped 😀

[@markstein6226]

Thanks for the video. 4 or 5 minutes of very helpful information in this 14 minute video.... :)

[@minor-co]

Thank you?

[@soular_flair]

Thanks, you're very good at explaining it. I'm 13 years on Mac and never worked out the importance of this! So just lost over a decade's creative files and music on a hard drive. I will watch a few more videos of yours to get my head around this. One major thing at moment is I just want to turn off the cloud so I can organise my computer before switching it on again, yet there's no easy pause without the complication of it deleting your files from computer. It kind of sucks for me right now that I just can't find pause.

[@minor-co]

Why can you not just keep the cloud syncing/running while you organise everything?

[@mindfulmerch1666]

Thank you! this video was really helpful. Ive spent hours flustered and wish I watch this video sooner. Thanks again!

[@minor-co]

Thanks, glad this was useful!

[@re-começar]

Thanks for the simple and helpful explanations. Definitely gave me some ideas on how to organize my systems. Well done!

[@minor-co]

You're welcome 😀

[@billiericks3293]

I'm having problems with my mac storage (syncs with other devices) being full of documents when all items are to be on iCloud. Photos are not syncing now and i can't do recent update. Not sure what changed a few weeks ago after decades of use. I have plenty of cloud space. I didn't solve the problem but learned other useful things. two issues for me with video. Dark screen is very hard to see what you are showing. The format for mac has changed so you 'path' is different than the current programing. Change is a pain when it comes to instructions but that is life. Thank you.

[@minor-co]

Thanks for the feedback on the darkness. I'll keep in mind for next time.

[@janecavanagh2270]

Great video - thanks Paul! Do you somehow backup your iCloud? I've always wondered what happens if Apple for example gets hacked or goes bust as a company, where does that leave us with all our files. Thank you very much!

[@minor-co]

I use Time Machine as another form of backup and also a backup service called backblaze

[@philiprand3720]

?ll have to come back to this to fully grasp it , but I appreciate the opportunities of icdrive that you have explained.

[@minor-co]

Sure, happy we could help.

[@FancyTruth]

Hi Paul. Thanks so much for the video. I've been struggling with iCloud for a while. I'm trying to free up space on my Macbook by uploading folders to iCloud drive. How do I ensure that when I delete stuff from my Macbook desktop that it doesn't delete from iCloud drive? (because this has happened before) Please let me know if you have a solution to this problem. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[@minor-co]

Instead of deleting it you can right-click and choose 'Remove download' to remove the local copy from your Mac.

[@43yvng]

please help me out , I have 2TB of storage I can use for iCloud, but locally my internal Hard drive is full. I search up my storage in finder , and my iCloud storage is taking most of my space on my hard drive(MacBook). I thought iCloud storage would NOT be stored to my local hard drive. im so confused on how to clear space on my MacBook from the iCloud storage!

[@minor-co]

That doesn't sound quite right as like you said, iCloud is it's own storage and these files are not stored on the Mac. I'd suggest reaching out to Apple Support who would be best placed to help with this.

[@artysanmobile]

The beauty of that system is that the iCloud drive data is a true backup on a live basis. My iCloud Drive is right at 300GB which works well with my 1TB boot drive. If your iCloud is going to be several TB, a different system will be needed where iCloud Drive will be your high priority, always needed backup, and TM or some other cloud service will handle lower priority.

[@minor-co]

Good advice 👍 I'd recommending using Time Machine on top of iCloud Drive as well.

[@artysanmobile]

@@minor-co Yes, they definitely work together. iCloud Drive for files that are constantly changing, in progress. TM for archival storage. It’s a killer combo. Between them, I could lose my 5 Apple computers and not miss a single bit of my data.

[@YingTey]

Thanks so much for this informative video. I'm still trying to figure iCloud out. Do you upload whatever documents you want on icloud or do you actually have your entire document folder uploaded to iCloud? Like it's synced? And every time when you work on your documents folder on your computer, you're technically editing it on the cloud as well? Sort of like Google docs? Or am I getting it wrong?

[@minor-co]

Yes, I have all my documents in iCloud. So yes, whenever I make a change, the document updates in iCloud.

[@lorenzodesanctis2768]

Hello Paul! Thank you for your video. I just have a question: what if I want to have all my folders downloaded on my computer? I want to have access to all the files in the folder, so even if I don't have connection I can still have access to everything (I don't have storage issues for the moment). Does iCloud Drive let you do that? Where should I save my folders? In documents or desktop or both are good? Thank you in advance for the answer

[@minor-co]

Yes you can do this by going to the highest level folder in the hierarchy (e.g. Documents), right-click and choose 'Download Now'

[@lorenzodesanctis2768]

@@minor-cothank you very much for the answer, and after the downloading it will be permanent or will be undownloaded and stored in the cloud after a certain amount of time?

[@davidcrawford2836]

Very good explanation! Thank you.

[@minor-co]

Thanks, glad I could help!

[@MaryEshun-o4w]

Please I'm planning to purchase macbook which one should i go for ?

[@minor-co]

The one with the right balance between functionality you need and price you're willing to pay

[@margotdenger1485]

I just made the switch from a PC (used OneDrive) to a Mac. I have Word on the Mac and when I go to save a document (or turn on AutoSave), it takes me to Manage Storage Accounts but iCloud does not show as an option to add. I don't want to use OneDrive anymore and thought I had transferred everything to iCloud. Maybe you covered it in your video and I didn't catch it. Still learning here. How do I store my Word docs in iCloud and get rid of OneDrive?

[@minor-co]

Hm, I'm not sure sorry. Have you definitely signed up for an iCloud storage plan. That's the first thing I would check.

[@margotdenger1485]

@ Yes, definitely have that.

[@minor-co]

Hm, I'm not sure. It's hard for me to troubleshoot this one without seeing your settings and how it's all set up. It may be best for you to contact Apple Support for this.

[@tacotory23]

Do you have a video of how to use the collaboration feature of iCloud Drive?

[@minor-co]

Sorry, I don't I'm afraid.

[@martinlittlewood2188]

Great video, Thanks! I am using a M2 Mac Mini, with only 256Gb storage, so I use an external 2TB ssd for all my storage (there is almost nothing in the "documents" folder on the mac. I am presently using Onedrive, but this keeps malfunctioning (esp since the last Mac update), so am thinking to abandon this for iCloud Drive. I would appreciate some advice for switching from OneDrive to iCloud, especially how to manage an external drive.

[@minor-co]

Thinking about how I migrated from Dropbox, I would move one folder at a time rather than moving everything at once. That way you can give the drive time to move the files and not overwhelm iCloud's system, just in case.

[@jeannoeldasque]

simple and helpful, thanks !

[@minor-co]

You're welcome 😀

[@kmdesign355]

Solid overview. My beef with iCloud Drive sharing at this point (Feb. 2024) is somewhat trivial, but... When you share, say, a large folder of folders and files with a family member (wife, kids, et al.), Apple places these silly "Added / Shared by / with..." labels on each and every file in the Finder. It clutters the view and makes scanning a shared "server" of folders and files very annoying, visually. I know... it's a minor UI / UX thing, but come on... we're talking Apple here. Not sure why they haven't provided an option to turn off these labels as a preference. And yes, I've posted to the appropriate Apple Community and shared the same. And if I've overlooked a Finder setting to turn off these pesky labels, please, do tell. Thanks!

[@minor-co]

Yeah, I hear you... I actually find it quite useful as it reminds me that I'm sharing it.

[@DjTeeray]

When I go on the Apple ID tab with storage, under that I see iCloud Drive is off, but it’s grayed out and I can’t turn it back on, this is a problem that happened after simply turning my computer off and then on again. I was hoping this video would tell me how to fix it

[@minor-co]

Ah, I've never seen this before. It may be best for you to contact Apple Support about this.

[@tsmiguel]

Nice video. I am new to icloud, i wonder what will be happen if internet is off or the electricity fails, and you need to use your icloud files, could you still see your icloud documents?

[@minor-co]

If you have downloaded them to your computer you can access your files. But if there are files in the cloud, you'd need to wait for a connection before you can download them.

[@readwriter]

⁠@@minor-coAnd that is as scary as heck esp. if a user is a newb with no backups of their files retained anywhere else.

[@billbowman8747]

I am having syncing issues between my MacBook Pro and MacStudio. For example I have a folder with all of the folders and files related to the current term that lives in iCloud Drive. My "Grading" folder has my Numbers spreadsheet file with all of my students grades as well as the master rubrics. If I update the a Grade on the MacBook Pro, it does not update on my MacStudio. I rarely had syncing issues when I used Dropbox, but I am wanting to shift to iCloud Drive only. As near as I can tell all settings are correct on each machine. Some files seem to update and some do not. If I copy an entire folder into iCloud Drive, some files don't copy. Often it seems to be Keynote files, but not always. I need to get this fixed, or I am sticking with Dropbox. Very frustrating.

[@minor-co]

Hi Bill, sorry to hear that. I can only recommend the normal troubleshooting steps: log out of iCloud on both devices and log back in, make sure your devices are up to date etc. Otherwise you may need to reach out to Apple support.

[@johnpwrites]

Hi and thanks. I don’t trust putting my original writing in the cloud only. I want Time Machine to back up versions locally to my local external drive too. How can I do that ? Thanks !

[@minor-co]

Plug in the drive in then go to Time Machine settings to start the sync 👍

[@DiegoMM-k8c]

Hi. My Documents folder isn't synchronized with the cloud, so all the files in it aren't in the cloud. How can I fix this, how can I make my Documents folder be a "cloud folder"? Thanks.

[@minor-co]

Go to 'Tools and Apps » Documents' and you can choose your cloud sync settings here.

[@filipeabdalla]

This video is perfect !!

[@minor-co]

Thanks, glad it was useful!

[@amanguptadev]

Hiii, Can you tell us if we does not want some file to sync will icloud for example my download folder of mac how I can do it. Also If I delete files from mac and iphone and does not want to deleted it from icloud. How we can do it.

[@minor-co]

I went digging through my settings to see if this is possible but I don't think you can. You need to use the Optimise storage option which will remove the local version from your device while keeping it on the cloud.

[@anothercharacter]

Do you have your footage from your videos on icloud as well? Like your editing files and stuff you have recorded for youtube.

[@minor-co]

Good question - No, I don't. I keep this on an external drive.

[@anothercharacter]

@@minor-co How come?😊 Won’t it work? Be good? I mean to have them on icloud just temporary while working on the project

[@v.s4970]

i am a bit confused once i drag and drop all documents in to icloud and delete it on my desktop on mac it also disapears from the icloud drive ? how do i do what your doing keeping docs and images only on icloud and download only when needed. i see you said just click remove download but once i click remove download, the file still remains on the desktop a bit confused as am new to this some help would be appreciated.

[@minor-co]

If it's still showing on the desktop then it sounds like it's not being added to the iCloud Drive properly. Make sure you add it to a folder in your Documents folder in the Finder and that this is synced to iCloud Drive.

[@jds4935]

Hello, I have not activated the Desktop and Documents option in iCloud Drive to save space in iCloud Drive. Can I now copy 1 spreadsheet from my local hard drive to iCloud Drive instead of moving it so that this file remains on the local hard drive and also in iCloud Drive? If this can be done will a change in the spreadsheet I make on the local hard drive also be synced to icloud Drive????? I have tried but the change is not synced!!!! Thanks for help!!!

[@minor-co]

You can do this but as this would create a separate file, this means changes you make to one file would NOT reflect in the other file.

[@jds4935]

@@minor-co Thanks! But when I move the file from my local drive to iCloud Drive, it can still be displayed on the local hard drive by turning the Optimise - Mac storage button on or off. Or will that not work either? I would like to see the file both in iCloud Drive but also still on my local drive on the iMac........Or do I really need to activate the Desktop and Documents button?

[@minor-co]

I'd suggest activating it. You can also create an alias on your local drive (i.e. a shortcut to the actual file)

[@Mbfrmdao]

how do i chnage the icloud account? is it the same as the apple id? and can i use mulitple apple ids on one user?

[@minor-co]

Yes, your iCloud account is your Apple ID. You can only be signed in to one account at a time on your Mac.

[@Payfwd]

I have a big file on desktop that I don’t want to upload to iCloud in my Mac. How do I prevent this from happening. Thanks

[@minor-co]

Just make sure you don't put it in a folder that syncs with iCloud and make sure you're not syncing your desktop with iCloud either.

[@altowaimage]

Right not i have 1.5TB free on a 2TB iCloud plan, but my 500GB MacBook is nearly full. I have optimize storage on, but still trying to figure out how to get infrequently used files up into the cloud in order to free space on MacBook. Any pointers for me? Thanks.

[@minor-co]

You can right-click on a file and choose 'Remove Download' to manually remove files and offload them to the cloud.

[@ankushgupta2439]

@@minor-co is there a way to do that faster? maybe in one click?

[@jamesmeyer1325]

Excellent video. Can I make a suggestion to improve your videos? Illuminate your face from one side instead of directly from in front. It will make your face appear much more 3-dimensional and your videos more interesting. For example, with front lighting it's difficult to see your nose because there are no shadows to provide relief to your face. It doesn't have to be deep shadow, just enough to provide some relief.

[@minor-co]

Thanks for the great tip. I'll do my best. I sit in front of a window which can be a challenge though.

[@RicardoMRJDesign]

thanks for the video

[@minor-co]

You're welcome 😀

[@e8dazawk61]

is the I cloud required to set up on apple computers?

[@minor-co]

No, you don't need iCloud to use a Mac but it's a good idea to.

[@ErikNainggolan]

Thanks for the video, Paul. My question is, after I back up all of my iPhone, photos and videos to iCloud, I want to empty my iPhone storage. Now I have learned that you can do this, but all the photos will be put in recently deleted folder in iCloud. Then it will be permanently deleted after 30 days The unimaginable logic comes right here, when it is permanently deleted it means it is gone and you cannot download it again to your iPhone if you need it. So deleting your photos from your iPhone storage to free space Basically means you are not relying on your back up in iCloud, but you are basically deleting your files from your iPhone storage and your iCloud. this is the biggest baloney I’ve ever encountered from a high-tech company like Apple. That is why it keeps telling you to have another external back up. Am I crazy or The world is going nuts?

[@minor-co]

I wouldn't delete them. What I do is I've turned on 'Optimise storage' in my settings so that when the phone is full it will offload photos and free up space automatically as needed.

[@ErikNainggolan]

so @@minor-co , icloud storage is basically a replacement for micro memory cards on android phones... am I correct? It is NOT a backup system, instead it is a means of EXTENDING your storage since iphones do not use micro cards...

[@minor-co]

Yeah I guess you could think of it that way

[@abdulazizbekpolatov]

I didn't need iCloud, but by accident it clicked and started transferring a 300GB file and stopped at 5GB and I couldn't get it back to normal on my Mac. I need help with this please. I mean, I don't know what to do. If I clear iCloud, will all the files be deleted?

[@minor-co]

Sorry, I'm a bit out of my depth there and I don't want to give the wrong advice. Have you tried contacting Apple support directly?

[@qntonkaz1]

Thanks!

[@minor-co]

You're welcome 😀

[@almister999]

Why might my icloud be greyed out on my iMac (I have signed in and out & have 100GB free)

[@minor-co]

I'm not sure sorry. This may be something you need to reach out to Apple Support to get help with.

[@almister999]

@@minor-co thanks for your help Mr Minors

[@hatiravenhawk]

Hi :) Does the folder you want to share, in my case a 200G one, have to be placed into the Documents folder? I've tried having it outside of the Documents folder (not wanting to share Documents and Desktop folders to iCloud Drive) but it didn't work/share. I'm thinking now that maybe you HAVE to share Docs and Desktop to Drive and then place your folder which you want to share into the Docs folder? am I right please?

[@minor-co]

My understanding is as long as the folder is in the iCloud Drive folder in the sidebar, you can share it.

[@donsutherland5427]

Hi - I have transferred documents to iCloud drive on my mac hoping to save storage on my Mac but it just appears to keep using space on my mac. How do I get it use cloud storage only ? I need the space on my Mac as my Photos are no longer syncing form my iphone to my mac as it says not enough local storage on my mac .

[@tatij4965]

I am having identical problem:(

[@minor-co]

Once you have the file stored in iCloud. Go to the file in the Finder, right-click and choose 'Remove Download'

[@tatij4965]

@@minor-co Thanks Paul, what it looks like to me is that I have hidden files in home folder taking up large amount of space (almost like a duplicate of the iCloud Drive) For some reason I don't get the option "remove". It looks like the "uploading" is stuck.

[@221b-Maker-Street]

​@@tatij4965 To your first comment about space being taken up, you might like to download the free version of *Daisy Disk* - that will very quickly give you a clear picture of what is taking up what space. It offers a very straightforward snapshot of your HD, and it looks nice too! To your second point, you don't get the _remove download_ option offered when clicking on a folder if even just one of the files in that folder is not downloaded; you have to go to the _file_ level to do that, which is beyond tiresome, I find... Finally, I've found a useful thing to do is to open any rogue/large folder holding a mix of some downloaded and some not downloaded files in *_list view_* (as opposed to column view). That way, you can then go to the view menu, select 'show view options' (⌘J), under 'show columns,' tick the first option - 'iCloud status'. This now gives you a toggleable column where you can neatly chunk all the downloaded files in a block, click the top item of the group you want to remove from download, hold the shift key down and click the bottom one of the group you want to remove from download... Still with me? 😂 *_THEN_* you can right-click, and in the context menu, select 'remove download'. _Finally,_ finally! I've ever I find something seems to be stuck mid-download, force-quitting the 'bird' process (responsible for iCloud management) in Activity Monitor seems to give it a bit of a jolt! This won't cause any harm - 'bird' process restarts almost immediately.

[@billiericks3293]

me too. phone photos stopped syncing. I can't update mac. iCloud has space. Mac storage is full of docs. iCloud keeps saying downloading. (but why?) Help videos are in the old format...different views than the ones on mac now.

[@glenisbrown468]

Hi I was hoping you could help me please. You say iCloud Drive uses your iCloud storage but when I have moved over files from my iPad (to hopefully release some storage) the only thing it does is reduce ‘on my IPAD’ and increases iCloud Drive use. I was thinking of some how moving the files off iCloud Drive and putting them on my Mac then deleting them from iCloud Drive. (I have searched and searched for the reason why this happens)

[@minor-co]

If I understand correctly, I think that's the right process to use: Move the files from your iPad to iCloud. Then on your Mac, move them from iCloud out of your iCloud Drive only your Mac's drive and then delete from iCloud.

[@glenisbrown468]

@@minor-co thank you so much

[@bommaritohawaii]

Would like to better understand how files are managed when deleted on one device. Also, how about using 3 Apple devices at the same time to edit a file. How good of a job does Apple do at resolving edits so there's only one master version of the file that is alway up to date

[@minor-co]

In theory, if you delete it from iCloud on one device, it will be deleted everywhere. I haven't tried editing on multiple devices tbh. Not sure how it would handle this.

[@rcarbone65]

How to avoid it to download a lot of files to the mac and also the huge cache folder MMCS?

[@minor-co]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with MMCS files

[@HK-NYC]

how to save a file right away from Mac onto iCloud Drive without wait?

[@minor-co]

You can simply drag the file into an iCloud folder and it will upload (but you will have to wait while it uploads)

[@HK-NYC]

@@minor-co Once the file is of size, like a few GB, it could take hours

[@SummersetVillage-wl5si]

i need to access videos and photos from photo vault app on mac

[@minor-co]

Sorry, I've never used that app.

[@NTM840]

How can I add my application folder to ICloud?

[@minor-co]

I wouldn't recommend doing that. The Applications folder is meant to stay on your Mac and trying to sync with iCloud may cause issues.

[@NTM840]

@@minor-co I appreciate the effort u doin. Thanks

[@valeriewalker5831]

thank u

[@minor-co]

You're welcome 😀

[@ptrevino]

The shared screens are regrettably too blurry to be of any value. Too bad.

[@minor-co]

Have you tried setting the video quality to 1080p? I checked and it looks fine to me.

[@Krishnendulaha]

Hang on, we can now share files with anyone without them having an Apple ID??? This is new... earlier even to download a file from a anyone can access link the user had to login to their Apple ID or create a new one just to download a file so that's why I have using OneDrive and Google Drive but never iCloud Drive despite being a Apple user

[@minor-co]

Unfortunately, since upgrading to Ventura it looks like this has been removed.

[@martywilliard]

Isn't it "FAVORITE" ? 😁

[@minor-co]

In New Zealand we use the British english spelling.

[@martywilliard]

@ I know. Just poking !

[@JoshuaG85]

I had the Mac Pro that looked like a trash can. haha 1tb drive. I just got the new Mac Studio. 2tb. I had deleted stuff and saw that there was about 1.6 tb free. That was a week or so ago. But now it says I have 428.29 gigs free. Which is weird. A minute ago is was 300 something. I cannot figure out what keeps taking the space. Looking, it says I was 846.52 gb in Applications, 101.25 gb in documents, 694.97 in iCloud and 205.53 in iOS files. How. haha I cannot fine the applications. I have three iCloud folders. The biggest one is 90 some gigs. So I cannot figure out how it's saying I am using all the space. The biggest apps are Adobe Premier Pro 2024, Adobe Media Encoder 2024, Adobe Media Encoder 2023, Adobe Photoshop 2024, Firewatch, Outlook, iMovie, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Safari. I did have everything migrate from my old Mac to this one. Maybe there are things hidden. I have no clue.

[@minor-co]

That is a little odd. I'm not sure sorry. I think you're right that maybe there's some hidden files or something going on.

[@JoshuaG85]

Yes, it is weird. But, that's life I guess. @@minor-co

[@lifeinthechi773]

I’m a hoarder for video files. SMH

[@minor-co]

😀