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Removing photos from my MacBook but keeping them in iCloud

Hello, for about three days I have been trying to figure out how to remove photos from my 2021 MacBook Pro while keeping them on iCloud.

They are taking up all my memory! I have had the MacBook two weeks and somehow all the iCloud phot0s appeared on it! DOH!

Please help.

MacBook, OS X 10.11

Posted on Mar 25, 2021 2:17 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 25, 2021 2:37 PM

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


See the following excerpt from the above link regarding optimized storage:

On your Mac:

  1. Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.


If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.




1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 25, 2021 2:37 PM in response to whyarealltheusernamestakenhere

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


See the following excerpt from the above link regarding optimized storage:

On your Mac:

  1. Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.


If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.




Removing photos from my MacBook but keeping them in iCloud

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