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User profile for user: Dick Watson
Dick Watson Author
User level: Level 1
50 points

"Documents" using 19.26GB; iCloud Drive storing 1.73GB--17.52 GB of ???!?

My iCloud management on multiple devices and iCloud.com Account Settings says I'm using 19.26 GB of storage for "Documents". I have no clue where all that is going. The other iCloud.com usage categories ("Photos and Videos", "Backup", "Mail", "Messages", "Family") all report usage numbers that seem reasonable vs. what I think is out there.


I'm guessing that "Documents" more or less equates to stuff in iCloud Drive.


Between MacOS Finder and review of "Recently Deleted" on iCloud.com iCloud Drive, I account for 6 items, 5 aliases, and 1 folder in (non-trash) stuff for a subtotal of 1.13 GB. And, in the Recently Deleted, I account for 162 files in three folders that cannot exceed a subtotal of 610 MB. (I say "cannot exceed" because in several folders with many files, I just used the largest file size as proxy for all the files. iCloud.com does not provide easy ways to see how much space multiple files or a folder are using.)


So, of the 19.26 GB iCloud says I'm using for "Documents", I can only find 1.74 GB in iCloud Drive and the other 17.52 GB is, well, zombie stuff known only to iCloud.


Anybody have any hints what/where this zombie stuff is and how to find/eliminate it?!?

Posted on Nov 12, 2021 11:46 AM

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User profile for user: Dick Watson
Dick Watson Author
User level: Level 1
50 points

Posted on Nov 13, 2021 7:28 PM

Finally found it myself.


I had to go into a shell (Terminal) on the Mac and poke around (ls -als and du -k) on ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs. There was a .Trash folder with a folder and files deleted, months ago, from, IIRC, one of my Mac's desktop that had the "missing" 17.5 GB of stuff in it. Sure enough, checking the trash on that Mac showed it there as well. I never would have found this with iCloud.com/iCloud Settings/Preferences resources. (I'm guessing this is because its hidden nature--.Trash--from the Mac hides it from iCloud Drive and other iCloud clients.) Permanently deleting it from the Mac Trash freed up the space instantly.

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User profile for user: Dick Watson
Dick Watson Author
User level: Level 1
50 points

Nov 13, 2021 7:28 PM in response to Eric--F

Finally found it myself.


I had to go into a shell (Terminal) on the Mac and poke around (ls -als and du -k) on ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs. There was a .Trash folder with a folder and files deleted, months ago, from, IIRC, one of my Mac's desktop that had the "missing" 17.5 GB of stuff in it. Sure enough, checking the trash on that Mac showed it there as well. I never would have found this with iCloud.com/iCloud Settings/Preferences resources. (I'm guessing this is because its hidden nature--.Trash--from the Mac hides it from iCloud Drive and other iCloud clients.) Permanently deleting it from the Mac Trash freed up the space instantly.

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User profile for user: MichelleT18
MichelleT18
User level: Community Specialist

Nov 13, 2021 12:31 PM in response to Dick Watson

Greetings Dick Watson, 


Apple Support Communities is a great place for help with iCloud storage. You are correct, Documents would be a file included within iCloud Drive. You can find more information about accessing and managing iCloud Drive files in the following article


Access and manage your files in iCloud Drive


You can also find some great tips on managing your iCloud storage in the article below. 


Manage your iCloud storage


Take care!

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"Documents" using 19.26GB; iCloud Drive storing 1.73GB--17.52 GB of ???!?

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