Mobile documents taking up hard drive space

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Mobile documents taking up hard drive space

I use iCloud for storage, but just discovered huge storage of files in mobile documents. can I delete these or will they disappear from icloud? etc

IMAC Monterey

iMac Pro

Posted on May 14, 2022 3:24 PM

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Answer 1

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filmcat Author

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May 14, 2022 3:38 PM in response to FoxFifth

so it is taking up 58 g of hard drive memory, if I delete from this mobile documents folder does everything stay on icloud or does i cloud get deleted as well?

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Answer 2

filmcat Author

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May 14, 2022 3:31 PM in response to filmcat

They are in Library on my hard drive, file is called mobile documents

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Answer 3

FoxFifth

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May 14, 2022 3:28 PM in response to filmcat

iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos are both syncing services that keep a local copy on your Mac.

You can potentially reduce the storage used on your Mac by turning on the Optimize Storage option in iCloud Photos as described in Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

For iCloud Drive, the option is at Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (in the Preferences sidebar) > Optimize Mac Storage.

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Answer 4

FoxFifth

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May 14, 2022 3:44 PM in response to filmcat

I haven't personally tested that but I would strongly advise against it. Those files are designed to be accessed via the Finder "Go" menu iCloud Drive or the Finder sidebar.

If you want to delete those files, delete them from the Finder iCloud Drive.

If you want to keep the files but potentially reduce the local storage that they use, go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (in the Preferences sidebar) > Optimize Mac Storage.

If you want cloud-only storage with no local copy, look at the options in other services such as OneDrive, DropBox, Google, etc.

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Answer 5

filmcat Author

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May 14, 2022 3:46 PM in response to FoxFifth

That is interesting, I didn't realize there was local storage for iCloud. on my Mac, that explains a lot. Thank you, will revive my dropbox account. This was very helpful, thank you.

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Answer 6

filmcat Author

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May 14, 2022 3:30 PM in response to FoxFifth

these photos are from transferring sd cards to icloud storage, before I clear the cards. So bypass icloud photo app.

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Answer 7

FoxFifth

Level 10

472,437 points

May 14, 2022 3:36 PM in response to filmcat

The local copy of iCloud Drive (which you access via Finder sidebar iCloud Drive or Finder "Go" menu iCloud Drive) is what you are seeing in Mobile Documents in Library.

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Mobile documents taking up hard drive space

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