Deleting photos in Downloads folder - impact to Photos & iCloud

dda7600 wrote:

I downloaded photos from an external cloud (non apple) system to the Downloads folder on my Macbook 12”. I then imported them to Photos albums on the same mac laptop. The albums in Photos were then sync to iCloud photos to optimise storage. The original photos folder and contents are still in the Downloads folder.

My question, if I delete the folders in Downloads, will this also then delete the files in the Photos folder and iCloud photos?

Depends on your import settings.

See >>> https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/photos/phta58cd90d3/mac and be sure you are referring to your macOS version.