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How to remove downloaded copies of photos already sync'd in iCloud. Need local storage on MacBook Air

Looking to install the newest OS 11 beta but I need to delete all local photos and keep them all in iCloud. I turned on optimize photos to keep full res on iCloud but that didn't clear enough space. Photos take the most space on my MacBook Air as I don't have any apps or any else.


Edit: meant to add this Photos for Mac and/ or Mac OS Catalina communities

Posted on Aug 6, 2020 5:56 PM

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2 replies

Aug 6, 2020 6:05 PM in response to christian1220

There is no option to completely remove them from a device and still have them in iCloud. iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


One option to consider would be to move your Photos library to an external drive. See: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support


How to remove downloaded copies of photos already sync'd in iCloud. Need local storage on MacBook Air

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