iCloud Drive

Question

iCloud Drive

I'm running OS Monterey 12.4 on a 2018 MacBook Pro with a 1 Gb SSD.

My iCloud Drive is full, and I have more than 500 Gb of space left on my internal SSD. I want to move my "Documents" folder from iCloud to my internal SSD. The documents folder contains ~ 40 Gb - I have plenty of space for it on my SSD.

Instructions say I can drag and drop it from iCloud Drive to my SSD. But when I try to drag it, it shows the "circle with a bar through it" icon and won't go when I drag it from iCloud Drive to SSD in a Finder window or between 2 finder windows.

How can I move this file back from iCloud Drive to my internal SSD?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 3, 2022 9:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BobTheFisherman

Level 10

81,529 points

Sep 3, 2022 9:38 AM in response to Wascally Wabbit

Deselect Documents and Desktop in your iCloud settings. See:

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,419 points

Sep 3, 2022 1:57 PM in response to Wascally Wabbit

In Finder's Sidebar preference pane check the checkbox for iCloud Drive. Then in a Finder window click on the iCloud Drive icon in the Sidebar:

iCloud Drive is not an off computer storage facility. It's a syncing facility so that all devices signed into the same Apple ID and have iCloud Drive enabled can have access to the same files. However, a duplicate of each file is stored on the devices (Mac or iPhone or iPad) either in full size or optimized (if y0u have Optimize Mac Storage enabled. They are located in the User/Home/Library/Mobile Documents folder:

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Answer 3

Sep 3, 2022 10:44 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I wanted to do that, but got this warning:

"If you continue, items will be removed from the Desktop and Documents folder on this Mac and will remain available in iCloud Drive."

Funny thing is I don't have a Desktop or Documents folder on this Mac. They're both in iCloud.

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iCloud Drive

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