You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: marc cardwell
marc cardwell Author
User level: Level 2
219 points

What's the criteria for moving local files to just iCloud?

I have a MBP, running is 14.5 (500GB drive, using 288GB) and an iMac on 13.x, and pay for 50GB of iCloud storage. I've noticed this for many years and its bugged me.


What I want to happen: All my files stay on both Macs AND in iCloud server.

What I see happening: Many files on the MBP will no longer be local, but on iCloud.


I see the file list, of course, but when I'm previewing (with the space bar) 100MB Photoshop files, it has to re-download them, which takes a while. What causes some files (I assume dormant ones?) to no longer be local but iCloud only?


Thanks for any advice on this.


MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.5

Posted on Jul 1, 2024 6:33 AM

Reply
11 replies
User profile for user: AlWeir
AlWeir
User level: Level 4
3,320 points

Jul 1, 2024 10:46 AM in response to marc cardwell

iCloud backs up you Desktop and Documents amongst other apps data that you might have installed. It is not really a backup for your computer. TimeMachine is for that and other third party apps. You can backup other data manually if you want in Finder. I prefer to back up locally to a SSD rather than using iCloud, but that's just me.

Reply
User profile for user: marc cardwell
marc cardwell Author
User level: Level 2
219 points

Jul 1, 2024 11:20 AM in response to muguy

Thanks! I see three buttons and choices:

  1. store in iCloud (right now says Optimize... when I click it, it asks "Do you want to optimize all photos and videos in iCloud?" then Cancel or Optimize)) It's not turned on
  2. optimize storage (right now says Optimize... when I click it, it asks "Do you want to optimize storage of movies and TV shows?" then Cancel or Optimize)) It's not turned on
  3. empty trash automatically (turned off)

What am I missing?

Reply
User profile for user: IdrisSeabright
IdrisSeabright
User level: Level 10
170,033 points

Jul 1, 2024 12:07 PM in response to marc cardwell

marc cardwell wrote:

I know! But I wasn’t sure if they’d receive a notification if I replied like it did vs directly to them. I clicked on reply but it didn’t show that way.

If they are subscribed to the thread, they should receive an email notification (sometimes the system gets a bit confused). However, not everyone subscribes to threads.

Reply

What's the criteria for moving local files to just iCloud?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up