Mirroring Documents and Desktop folders on Mac Studio and iCloud

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Mirroring Documents and Desktop folders on Mac Studio and iCloud

Each time I call Apple support I get a different answer so perhaps someone here is more educated than tier one support.

I would like to use iCloud, including iCloud documents and desktop folders AND keep local, live copies of each on my Mac Studio (that is, mirror iCloud desktop and document folders with a local copy of each). I want to do so in case I lose access to iCloud or catastrophic failure of iCloud storage. To this end, I want to be able to back up all of my data using Time Machine.

Being a belts and suspender guy, I also would like to back up my computer using CCC.

Is it possible to do all this with Ventura 13.1 or are live documents and desktop folders either on iCloud or on my computer?

I find this all very confusing and documentation inadequate. Thanks for any help.

Mac Studio, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 7, 2023 12:14 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

muguy

Level 9

76,687 points

Jan 7, 2023 12:43 PM in response to Andrew Freeman4

When you sync with iCloud all of your documents remain on your device unless you elect to optimize content. If you optimize, your oldest/largest files will be offloaded should space become necessary. Otherwise, everything is resident and any changes you make will sync whenever connected to a network.

You can then backup with Time Machine, or anything else that you would like.

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Answer 2

Jan 7, 2023 1:06 PM in response to muguy

Thanks. So, the purpose of the cloud-with-download-arrow icon is to download specific content if you did choose to optimize storage? Also, why is there an option to save a new file to the cloud or locally?

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 9

76,687 points

Jan 7, 2023 1:51 PM in response to Andrew Freeman4

Correct the icon indicates that the file is in iCloud only. Likely due to optimizing but could also appear with a file uploaded on one device that has not yet synced on another.

I’m not familiar with the option you mention. Some built-in software (eg. Pages) allows you to save anywhere including in the Pages folder in iCloud, which is also in iCloud Drive on your Mac

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Mirroring Documents and Desktop folders on Mac Studio and iCloud

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