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How do I move files from windows over to a mac

Posted on Dec 8, 2020 11:30 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 8, 2020 11:38 AM

There are many ways. Some are better than others depending on the proximity (are they nearby, or across the country?)


Fastest: If both computers are on the same local network, then simply enable File Sharing on the Mac (System Preferences -> Sharing -> File Sharing).

When enabled, the preferences pane will give you a smb:// URL that points to your computer.

On the Windows machine, tell it to connect to that URL. You'll be asked to authenticate using the username/password of your Mac and then your home directory will be accessible as a network drive on the Windows PC. Just copy the files in the same way you would copy any others.


Alternatively, you can copy the files to an external USB drive. Plug the drive into your Mac and it will appear on the desktop where you can copy them back into your home directory.


If the machines are in different locations you can upload them to a cloud storage service such as iCloud, Google Drive, DropBox, etc. - these services create a shared directory that can be used to transfer data between devices (limited by internet transfer speeds).


How's that for starters?

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 8, 2020 11:38 AM in response to emmaconaty

There are many ways. Some are better than others depending on the proximity (are they nearby, or across the country?)


Fastest: If both computers are on the same local network, then simply enable File Sharing on the Mac (System Preferences -> Sharing -> File Sharing).

When enabled, the preferences pane will give you a smb:// URL that points to your computer.

On the Windows machine, tell it to connect to that URL. You'll be asked to authenticate using the username/password of your Mac and then your home directory will be accessible as a network drive on the Windows PC. Just copy the files in the same way you would copy any others.


Alternatively, you can copy the files to an external USB drive. Plug the drive into your Mac and it will appear on the desktop where you can copy them back into your home directory.


If the machines are in different locations you can upload them to a cloud storage service such as iCloud, Google Drive, DropBox, etc. - these services create a shared directory that can be used to transfer data between devices (limited by internet transfer speeds).


How's that for starters?

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