iCloud drive on a Mac HELP!

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iCloud drive on a Mac HELP!

I buy 2 Tb of storage in iCloud and load 400Gb of files into a folder structure on the iCloud drive. All my work. I now want to turn on Synchronise on my Macbook Pro so I can seamlessly access the files. There is not enough room on my hard drive for all the files as I have other media and programmes downloaded.

Does OS manage what gets download?How?
Do the non downloaded files sit in the iCloud drive folder on my Mac book with a cloud and arrow image so I can download them when required.
Can I control what is or isn't downloaded?

All the Apple help articles seem to be about limiting iCloud storage assuming the Macbook or Mac is the centre of the universe. However I want the opposite. I want the cloud to be base/center and multiple devices to access my files. For example when I am out of the office, I want my iPad Pro to access the files. But only the files I need. Noting that Apple does not have full OS touch screen device.

Does anyone know how to use a Mac in a cloud centric world? HELP!

Why hasn't Apple got help pages focused on being cloud centric. Surely they want to sell me their storage plan.

Thanks

Kiwi

ps BTW, these issues can all be managed very simply with a right click using Onedrive running on Windows 10. Is Apple really that far behind?

MacBook Air 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 17, 2021 10:49 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LACAllen

Level 8

43,500 points

May 18, 2021 1:34 AM in response to kiwiappleman

Is Apple really that far behind?

Not really an answerable question is it?

Simply put, iCloud just does not behave like Onedrive and likely never will. iCloud does not really offer easily managed off device storage with the granular options you seem to want.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/.

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Answer 2

kiwiappleman Author

Level 1

15 points

May 18, 2021 2:01 AM in response to LACAllen

Thanks LACAllen,

It is an answerable question, if what you say is correct, Apple does not offer a cloud centric solution. It remains desktop based with the requirement for backups. Lame and very yesterday.

I think it is a little presumptive to say it never will. From what understand the Photos App will auto manage disc space by removing images from the Photos desktop application and replacing them with thumbnails if the disk is full. Fully optimised the Library reduces to 10% of the cloud Album size. If you view a photo or video it then downloads the full version. Saves the last few or most frequently viewed images/videos. Which is relevant my Photos Library sits on an external drive as it will not fit on my 512gig macbook Pro.

I have read somewhere in a Cloud storage comparison that OS does the same thing with iCloud drive too. I just can not find the article again and there is nothing in official Apple documentation. Again lame. Apple is busy selling 2 Tb storage plans when the various help pages talk about how to manage (meaning reduce) cloud storage. If I buy 2Tb why would I be worried? There is a disconnect between the marketing plan (literally pushing people to 2Tb) and the support information. If anyone from Apple reads this please look at it. I have provided feedback on the support pages and the feedback page you linked.

Does anyone out there actually know how iCloud Drive works? What actually happens if my iCloud drive use is bigger than my available disc space on my Mac?

Thanks again for commenting LACAllen. I am keen to hear more! Someone must know!?

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Answer 3

kiwiappleman Author

Level 1

15 points

May 18, 2021 2:28 AM in response to LACAllen

Hi again LACALLEN,

Just to be clear, the world changed dramatically when Google docs appeared. MS was caught napping well and truely. It took a few years to catch up with Office365 and Onedrive. The first version of O365 was a bit lame. MS has now well and truely caught up and met Google head on. office.com is quite slick. Apple's online documents imply it is not even playing yet. A desktop solution with backups is just not in the game. Have a look at iCloud.com. The icons are oversized and look childish. The iCloud drive had large icons so only 24 items fit on a page with no list view. Files do not open in a browser they download. Just not keeping up. If I move away from Apple to Google (who mine my data) or ugly MS for file storage, where does it stop? Outlook on my Mac. A Surface instead of iPad and Mac combo?

Anyway back to the main point how does iCloud drive work on a Mac where the local file storage capacity is exceeded?

Cheers

Kiwi

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iCloud drive on a Mac HELP!

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