iCloud clutters up my local drive

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Level 1

20 points

iCloud clutters up my local drive

I had a very in-depth question for this thread, but it seems that there is a ridiculous character limit imposed by Apple on these forums, and I exceeded it....

Once AGAIN, Apple has proven that they will do anything to make sure you cannot get any help with their garbage products, and I will have to try elsewhere ( meaning Apple Support - ugh ) to get some answers.

When exactly did Apple turn into a Microsoft clone about customer support??

In any case, I saved a large folder full of files onto my iCloud Drive, before realizing that iCloud does not truly store files / folders, but simply syncs with what is on your local drive. This becomes a problem when you realize, as I did, that iCloud is not actually storage, and only mirrors what is already on your hard drive. This works in both directions as I have found that once you sync something onto the iCloud Drive, it seems to be permanently embedded onto your local hard drive, and tedious, if not frustrating to remove. Even clearing out all iCloud folders, does not stop this travesty of a software application from randomly saving copies to your local drive in the Documents folder.

What I am looking for is advice on a effective way to hunt down the files / folders that were saved to my laptop hard drive in this manner, so that I can free up the space used after having turned off iCloud.

Oh yes, and Thanks i advance!!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 16, 2019 7:51 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Brallen01

Level 2

305 points

Oct 20, 2019 8:30 AM in response to zacklloyd9

Apologies, I also have a Mac and I have no idea why I wrote Ctrl, it is, as you stated; command (⌘).

Yes that isn't possible, you would have to move all of the files from the external drive into your iCloud folders on your Mac, which defeats the purpose.

You would have to continue using provider like onedrive, drop box etc. where you can dictate which folder / drives sync.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,681 points

Oct 18, 2019 10:57 AM in response to zacklloyd9

You are welcome. In your user folder, do you see an iCloud archive folder?

Archive or make copies of your iCloud data

Also check your user Library. Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Mobile Documents.

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Answer 3

Brallen01

Level 2

305 points

Oct 19, 2019 10:17 AM in response to zacklloyd9

iCloud Drive doesn't really have the functionality to optionally prevent items from being downloaded to the device. a slightly cumbersome way around this is to:

go to your iCloud Drive folder and chose the list view
go to view options and select iCloud status - this will provide a column with icons

Then use ctrl + a - to select all the files
Then ctrl + alt + "right arrow key" - to expand all the folders
sort the files that aren't downloaded by clicking on the iCloud status column
select them all and right click and select the "remove downloads" option:

N.B. you will have to do this every time you upload a file to iCloud Drive as it isn't designed as an online repository, it is designed to sync your files across all of your devices. if you want to use it as just an online depository, go to your system preferences > apple ID > iCloud and deselect the iCloud Drive option - you will then have to upload files directly to iCloud.com

Cheers.

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Answer 4

zacklloyd9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 18, 2019 9:16 AM in response to Eric Root

Eric Root, thanks for the suggested applications to find the extra files / folders that iCloud placed on my hard drive, but I am truly looking for where it would have saved a local copy of contents on my computer after turning off iCloud....

As I stated, I was trying to use iCloud to hold these files / folders in order to transfer them to a different computer, but did not realize correctly how iCloud worked. When I did realize that iCloud was actually just using my hard drive to hold the data, I tried to sign off of iCloud, but that placed a local copy of everything on it into my local computer somewhere.

When I first transferred the files / folders into iCloud to begin with, they were all saved in a single LARGE folder, and Apple Support told me to just delete that folder, and my problems would be over, but after moving that folder to Trash, and emptying, it seems that the space used on my local drive did not free up at all?? So, now I need to find where iCloud stored the local copies of what was in that folder, but without the folder name being available anymore, because it was deleted, this is confusing to me, and I am trying to hunt down the local copies that iCloud made on my laptop.

This is what I am trying to find, and Apple Support has been less than helpful to me, as if they are not truly certain what iCloud is doing either. Still, again thanks for the idea!!

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Answer 5

zacklloyd9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 19, 2019 8:56 AM in response to Eric Root

Eric Root,

Once again, thanks for the reply, but I have followed these step, and found the folders you are referring to, which unfortunately are all empty....

Problem is that the files / folders copied onto my hard drive are still there somewhere. However, I think I may have found the iCloud Archive that is holding them all myself, and am in the process of deleting it now. I will check back if this does not solve my issue!!

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Answer 6

zacklloyd9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 20, 2019 7:08 AM in response to Brallen01

Brallen01

Thanks for the small tutorial post, but I am stuck on one part....

You posted

Then use ctrl + a - to select all the files

Then ctrl + alt + "right arrow key" - to expand all the folders

sort the files that aren't downloaded by clicking on the iCloud status column

select them all and right click and select the "remove downloads" option:

Except I have a Macintosh, not a Windows machine, so these controls are a little different, without the benefit of a control / alt key. Can you re-post this as instructions on a Macintosh keyboard??

I know that to select all on a mac, is command + A

Also, expand folders is command + 'right arrow'

However, since I have already emptied these folders, I cannot proceed further, using your instructions here, but it is good to know that it is possible. Except that I am not truly trying to store the files between my mac, and iCloud, but trying to transfer files from my external drive to iCloud, for future retrieval on another machine. This does not appear to be a possibility, so I have kind of abandoned the idea now.

If not it is actually a non-issue, as I have found the folder that was filled with my iCloud files, and deleted it, which has brought my laptop back to where it was before I tried this.

In any case, Thanks again for the steps anyway!!

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Answer 7

zacklloyd9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 22, 2019 3:27 AM in response to Brallen01

Brallen01,

Yes, I am aware of this, and it is why I gave up on the idea to begin with....

I am looking into getting a good online Dropbox type account to use for this as iCloud does not truly permit it, but again, Thanks for the assistance!!