How do I turn off the auto back up of my desktop on iCloud?

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Level 1

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How do I turn off the auto back up of my desktop on iCloud?

I recently purchased MacBook Pro running Mojave 10.14.6

I do remember when setting up iCloud being offered to back up desktop to iCloud Drive. I must have said yes or didn't opt out because now my icloud is instantly full with my desktop files. I cannot find where to manage this option.

Following the top google suggestion:

Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
If you use iOS 11 or later, tap Manage Storage > Backups. ...
Tap the name of the device that you're using.
Under Choose Data to Back Up, turn off any apps that you don't want to back up.
Choose Turn Off & Delete.

The desktop data shows up as 'OtherDocuments'

If you click on that you get the prompt:

'To free up storage, open iCloud in Finder and delete documents'

If I do that, I see the desktop icon but if I click it, it opens the actual desktop and anything I erase isn't erased from iCloud but from my actual desktop.

How can I just turn off the auto back up of my desktop?

Posted on Sep 20, 2019 9:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,591 points

Sep 20, 2019 10:52 AM in response to mgaddoil

Try making an Archive of your data before doing anything. If you can't copy the files back from iCloud Drive, you can move them from the archive to the desired location.

Archive or make copies of your iCloud data

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Answer 2

mgaddoil Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 20, 2019 10:41 AM in response to mgaddoil

Ok, I actually found that clicking 'options' next to iCloud Drive allows me to turn off 'Desktop & Documents Folders'.... however, I receive the prompt 'If you continue, items will be removed from the Desktop and the Documents folder on this Mac and will remain available in iCloud Drive.'

This is actually the opposite of what I want. Anybody know an easier way to accomplish turning off iCloud Desktop and Documents Folders backup, erasing it from iCloud Drive but leaving my actual Desktop and Documents Folders static?

I realize I could just turn it off, download it back and then erase the Desktop and Documents Folders data from iCloud but the amount of data for my actual Desktop and Documents Folders exceeds what's currently on my clouds storage... seems like like I would lose the difference unless I manually back up to a hard drive first.

Thanks in advance!

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How do I turn off the auto back up of my desktop on iCloud?

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