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James Yates Author

Level 1

63 points

Cloud icon on photos

Can anyone tell me what the Cloud icon on my photos is? thank you for any replies.

MacBook, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 2:22 AM

Top-ranking reply

PhillipU

Level 2

470 points

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 1:56 PM

It means you are using an iCloud-enabled photo library and it is set to optimize storage by keeping the bulk of the original photos in iCloud and not on the device itself.

When you open such a photo or try to edit it, you will have to wait a moment until the original is retrieved from iCloud.

If you'd prefer for the originals to be kept on your Mac, you can change this setting in Photos > Preferences > iCloud.

Keep in mind that you'll need enough disk space to hold all of your photos with this option enabled. Your iCloud storage would not be affected as that always keeps the originals.

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Cloud icon on photos

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