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Arandel Author

Level 1

80 points

What happens to documents and desktop folders with iCloud?

I want to use iCloud to share documents between all my apple devices, so I checked "documents and decktop folders" in System preferences>Apple ID>iCloud Drive>Options button. I got a message that my folders had been duplicated(?). And I don't see the folders now in my User folder. Apparently they are stored only on the iCloud drive. I saw an article from MacWorld 2018 (below) that says that all the files on my desktop and documents folder are only available on iCloud, so that if I don't have internet access, or I lose iCloud account, the documents will be lost!?

I want all my desktop and documents folders and documents available on my hard drive, with or without internet access. Will iCloud do this, or should I use another app?

Thx.

https://www.macworld.com/article/231194/the-trouble-with-desktop-and-documents-enabled-for-icloud-drive.html

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Sep 23, 2021 5:25 AM

Top-ranking reply

Drew_7

Community Specialist

Posted on Sep 24, 2021 9:21 AM

Hello Arandel,

We understand you have some questions about iCloud features on your Mac. We'd like to share a resource that can help explain Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive

If you choose to turn off Desktop and Documents you will not lose any information. Check out "What happens when you turn off iCloud Drive or sign out of iCloud" for more details.

Regards.

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What happens to documents and desktop folders with iCloud?

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