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My new MacBook Air storage is almost full

Just bought a macbook air. Though everything is on icloud, it is giving me that storage on device is almost full. Why?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]


Posted on Sep 18, 2021 1:22 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 18, 2021 1:42 PM

iCloud is primarily a syncing service to sync data between all of your devices and data on iCloud also has a local copy on your devices. You can potentially reduce the local storage by:

  1. For Photos, turn on Photos Preferences > iCloud (at top of the Photos Preferences window) > Optimize Mac Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support
  2. For iCloud Drive (including the Desktop and Documents option) turn on Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (in the sidebar of the System Preferences window) > Optimize Mac Storage (near the bottom right of the window).


Also, if you just bought the MacBook Air and decide that you want one with more storage, be aware that there is a 14 day return period if you purchased it directly from Apple. See: https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns_refund

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 18, 2021 1:42 PM in response to leylanaj

iCloud is primarily a syncing service to sync data between all of your devices and data on iCloud also has a local copy on your devices. You can potentially reduce the local storage by:

  1. For Photos, turn on Photos Preferences > iCloud (at top of the Photos Preferences window) > Optimize Mac Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support
  2. For iCloud Drive (including the Desktop and Documents option) turn on Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (in the sidebar of the System Preferences window) > Optimize Mac Storage (near the bottom right of the window).


Also, if you just bought the MacBook Air and decide that you want one with more storage, be aware that there is a 14 day return period if you purchased it directly from Apple. See: https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns_refund

My new MacBook Air storage is almost full

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