iCloud Drive Backup

tammyfromleague city wrote:

Thanks for that info, it's good to know, but also what about the documents that are in iCloud Drive, and have the little cloud icon next to the file name on my computer. How do I back up those documents?

You must have Optimize Mac Storage enabled so you only have a pointer to the actual file on your drive. You'll have to download them so that you can backup the full file.

You wrote - my user name was changed at some point and I lost many photos and documents. I

See the article https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201548

Avoid changing it , rather create a new admin account in users and groups https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mtusr001/mac

 If there are two admin account created in users and groups , to transfer photos from one admin account to another account .

Click on finder > Go > home > your user name > pictures > Photos Library.photoslibrary just right click on it and click on show package contents > click on masters folder to get selected , copy the complete master folder ( use command and C keys ) , again close the finder window , click on Go > Home >( paste use command and V keys ) over the shared folder .

tammyfromleague city wrote:

I use iCloud Drive to free space on my computer.

That's not how iCloud Drive works. It's not an off computer storage facility. It's a syncing service to keep the same files on all computers that are signed into the same iCloud ID and have iCloud Drive enabled. Also each device will house the same documents on it so that the documents can be accessed even when there's no internet connection. Those files are located in your User/Home/Library/Mobile Documents folder

and is accessed this way: