You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
💡 Did you know?
⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >
⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >
⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >
⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >
How do I delete files to free up space on my i cloud drive without deleting them from the computer itself? Not everything I have is in need of that much backup, and I would like to keep my iCloud space for the important stuff.
Not everything I have is in need of that much backup, and I would like to keep my iCloud space for the important stuff.
iCloud Drive is not a backup anyway. It mirrors the synced folders on your Mac, and because the synced iCloud Drive on your Mac is always kept identical to the counterpart in iCloud you are working with the iCloud version as well as the local version at the same time. It is essentially, as if you had only one version. If you make a mistake, it will effect both the iCloud copy and the copy on your Mac and you cannot recover the older versions, unless the document type supports versioning. iCloud does not support an archival backup, that will let you back in time. You still need to use Time Machine to be able to get back in time, but Time Machine can only backup your iCloud Drive fully, if you do not use the "Optimise Mac Storage" with iCloud.
The simplest way to have only selected items in iCloud Drive would be to refrain from using the "Desktop & Documents" option for iCloud Drive., but to enable iCloud Drive in the System preferences for iCloud, so you can see it in the Finder's sidebar. Then you can selectively drag documents and data to iCloud Drive, but your Documents folder and Desktop folder will remain local.
Not everything I have is in need of that much backup, and I would like to keep my iCloud space for the important stuff.
iCloud Drive is not a backup anyway. It mirrors the synced folders on your Mac, and because the synced iCloud Drive on your Mac is always kept identical to the counterpart in iCloud you are working with the iCloud version as well as the local version at the same time. It is essentially, as if you had only one version. If you make a mistake, it will effect both the iCloud copy and the copy on your Mac and you cannot recover the older versions, unless the document type supports versioning. iCloud does not support an archival backup, that will let you back in time. You still need to use Time Machine to be able to get back in time, but Time Machine can only backup your iCloud Drive fully, if you do not use the "Optimise Mac Storage" with iCloud.
The simplest way to have only selected items in iCloud Drive would be to refrain from using the "Desktop & Documents" option for iCloud Drive., but to enable iCloud Drive in the System preferences for iCloud, so you can see it in the Finder's sidebar. Then you can selectively drag documents and data to iCloud Drive, but your Documents folder and Desktop folder will remain local.
See the article Work with folders and files in iCloud Drive - Apple Support
On your Mac, drag items from iCloud drive to another folder in the Finder sidebar or on the desktop, such as Downloads, Movies, Music and Pictures.
The items are copied to your Mac and removed from iCloud Drive on all your devices set up for iCloud. If you change your mind, you can drag items back to iCloud Drive.
Hello Léonie,
Thank you for your help. The explanation was helpful.
Have a great weekend.
Nightwarden
Hello TYGB,
Thank you for the help. Your instructions are very practical, and I believe I can accomplish what I need to do.
Have a great weekend,
Nightwarden
How do I delete files to free up space on my i cloud drive without deleting them from the computer itself?
