icloud drive filling up my mac hard drive

As a point of reference: My iCloud Drive says 7.7 GB, but my iCloud Storage says 101.3 GB. I found that at iCloud.com and looked at "Your Storage." It says that I'm using storage for Photos, Messages, Documents, Mail, and iCloud Backups. (iCloud Backups are for my iPhone and iPad.)

iCloud Drive has my Documents Folder and my Desktop folder so that I can access those files from my iPad and iPhone. my iCloud Drive also has various other files that I thought I might want to see at the Doctor's office (both data and entertainment for the waiting room) and other such files. I'm retired, so I don't do work files this way any more.

iCloud Drive is just a folder on my Mac's hard drive, and it works pretty much the same as any other folder, except that all the files in there are copied (not moved) to a place at iCloud that is available to my other devices. Putting something in the iCloud folder doesn't save me any space-- it's just like moving a file from any folder to another.

However, if you have "Optimize Storage" turned on (which I don't,) then the OS will remove some less used files from your hard drive if it thinks you need the space. It will put files back for more convenient access when space becomes available. Apple recommends at least 10% of your hard drive remain free, so it probably works around that restriction, though I'm not sure of the details.

If you want full control over iCloud Drive, you should turn off "Optimize."

Apple has articles about managing iCloud storage. See: Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support and View and manage iCloud device backups - Apple Support

AlWeir wrote: What does iCloud back up? "What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support (CA)"

Unfortunately, this article is about "iCloud Backup," which is an emergency service for mobile devices, and it's not connected with using iCloud on a Mac.

I am having the exact same problem as spookykatten. My new macbook is paralyzed by the mass of data iCloud pours into it. Doesn’t matter if Optimize is turned on or off. It’s so full that it can’t sync with iCloud and I can’t even access iCloud to get content because the error message tells me my hard drive is too full to do that. I deleted 12 GB of apps to create more room so it could function, but iCloud immediately filled it up again. Very odd. My new macbook is basically unusable! Is this a new glitch with Apple or has this been s problem before?

What does iCloud back up?

What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support (CA)