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Hello,
I have an MacBook air that has limited memory and also a iMac. I want to clean space on my laptop without deleting my desktop files. When I have tried to delete on my laptop it disappears off my desktop. How can I do one without the other?
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.15
Welcome to Apple Support Community.
It appears that you may have iCloud Desktop and Documents on: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support. If this is the case, since you need to make more room on your MacBook, I'd suggest you review: Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support. This way, you can manage your storage while continuing to sync your files.
Another option is to disable iCloud Desktop and Documents so your Mac computers are no longer syncing, and then delete files you no longer need.
Jack
Welcome to Apple Support Community.
It appears that you may have iCloud Desktop and Documents on: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support. If this is the case, since you need to make more room on your MacBook, I'd suggest you review: Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support. This way, you can manage your storage while continuing to sync your files.
Another option is to disable iCloud Desktop and Documents so your Mac computers are no longer syncing, and then delete files you no longer need.
Jack
Thank you for the info. Yes I do have iCloud sync on. I will disable to open up space. I have tried to optimize and it doesn't work
deleting files on one device and not others
