After deleting a Garage Band folder from my iCloud account, it also deleted that folder from my MacBook desktop? How can I prevent that from happening again? Will any thing I delete in iCloud automatically delete the corresponding desktop item on my MacBook, or should I have not used Finder to access my iCloud account for the purpose of deleting iCloud folders?
MacBook, macOS 10.13
The main purpose of iCloud Drive is to keep the documents and data identical and in sync across all devices. iCloud Drive on your devices will always mirror iCloud Drive in iCloud.
If you want to remove a file from iCloud Drive to free cloud storage, but keep it on your Mac, do not delete it in iCloud, but move it from iCloud Drive to a local folder on your Mac (different from the synced folder iCloud Drive, Desktop, Documents).
The main purpose of iCloud Drive is to keep the documents and data identical and in sync across all devices. iCloud Drive on your devices will always mirror iCloud Drive in iCloud.
If you want to remove a file from iCloud Drive to free cloud storage, but keep it on your Mac, do not delete it in iCloud, but move it from iCloud Drive to a local folder on your Mac (different from the synced folder iCloud Drive, Desktop, Documents).
You’ve seemingly either configured your desktop be synchronized, or have a default setting to use this feature enabled, which—much like iCloud Photos and other synchronized storage—means you have one copy of your data mirrored or shared or replicated everywhere. Delete a file or (with iCloud Photo) a photo in one place, delete it everywhere.
If this is what has happened here, see the section on disabling the feature: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
Ah! Exactly the kind of clear and specific answer I needed. Thanks very much!
If I delete a folder on iCloud, will it also delete the folder from my Mac desktop?
