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Can I delete photos library (in documents) without deleting it on iCloud?

I bought a new MacBook for three days ago. Right now my storage is filled up to 150GB. I have downloaded a few programs that takes 40GB. But when I saw that Photos library is taking 110Gb I got confused. I have 2Tb storage, Photos take 110GB on iCloud and on all my devices photos only take about 5-6Gb. I think the reason is that my computer has all the photos download which I don't want. Is there a way to optimize photos library without deleting all from my computer?


MacBook

Posted on Aug 31, 2019 3:25 PM

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Posted on Aug 31, 2019 4:23 PM

Hi Ivannerf,


(love the username, by the way!)


iCloud is meant to sync data between devices. Any changes you make on a source device will reflect in iCloud, and subsequently on the other devices connected.

For example:

You are on vacation and take a picture with your iPhone that has iCloud Photo Library enabled. You later connect your iPhone to wifi, those photos are uploaded to iCloud, and your Mac at home (also connected to wifi and iCloud Photo Library enabled) will then download those photos. Hence all devices will have the same photo.


That being said, a good way to delete them from your computer without them being removed from iCloud, would simply be to turn off iCloud Photo Library on your computer, and keep it off.

Turning off iCloud Photo Library will essentially prevent your computer from communicating with iCloud, also preventing photos from uploading or downloading on that device.


I hope this helps!


Shannon aka Shanigami

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 31, 2019 4:23 PM in response to Ivannerf

Hi Ivannerf,


(love the username, by the way!)


iCloud is meant to sync data between devices. Any changes you make on a source device will reflect in iCloud, and subsequently on the other devices connected.

For example:

You are on vacation and take a picture with your iPhone that has iCloud Photo Library enabled. You later connect your iPhone to wifi, those photos are uploaded to iCloud, and your Mac at home (also connected to wifi and iCloud Photo Library enabled) will then download those photos. Hence all devices will have the same photo.


That being said, a good way to delete them from your computer without them being removed from iCloud, would simply be to turn off iCloud Photo Library on your computer, and keep it off.

Turning off iCloud Photo Library will essentially prevent your computer from communicating with iCloud, also preventing photos from uploading or downloading on that device.


I hope this helps!


Shannon aka Shanigami

Can I delete photos library (in documents) without deleting it on iCloud?

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