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Is there a way to search for only items on my Mac - not iCloud?
I wish to put large files that are on my mac on an external drive to free up space and I can't find a way to zero in on local files to then be able to sort by size, type etc.
Each time I try, finder shows files on iCloud.
I've tried turning wifi off and looking for a way filter to see only local files but can't find anything.
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.1
Thank you so much for trying to help.
Yes, I want to find large files stored locally.
Maybe Monterey is too old for those options?
Under Finder Preferences I could not find an option to start search from current folder.
Control clicking the top header does not offer an iCloud status column. I can only tell the file is in iCloud if I click on each item and look at the location bar at the bottom.
Control clicking the top header does not offer an iCloud status column.
It apparently doesn't appear in the Search window.
Open a Find window (cmd-F). You'll see one criteria, "Kind is Any"
You can add search criteria other than what is shown in the menu by choosing Other…
Use that to change the first criteria to File Size. Set the options as you desire.
Click the + button at the right of the Size criteria.
Use the Other… option to add Raw Query.
Set the raw query to: kMDItemContentType = "*"
You could also just use the Raw Query without File Size, but add the Size column to the results window and sort by that.
Why that works. All files have the metadata, ContentType. iCloud files don't really exist, so if you search for the metadata entry, it will not return anything. The Raw Query says, "show files with any ContentType." Since the iCloud files will not have any metadata, they won't appear in the results.
For finding large files stored locally you can use this free app, GrandPerspective, to find the largest files on your drive. Control (right) - click on the any item in the resulting graphic and it will show you where it's located.
Hello and thank you again.
Because of your guidance I learned a lot and need to figure out what to do next.
I did find the 'search the current folder' choice - feeling silly about it because I did not realize there was a pulldown.
So I kept getting an 'application memory is full' message and figured I could move some .mov files to an external drive... but could not find any locally.
After your help and the query kMDItemContentType = "*" I think now maybe I messed up when restoring the machine with Time Machine. There actually don't seem to be any local files ?! I just assumed I was out of space.
I hope I can figure it out.
In the Finder preferences or settings, there is an option to start the search from the current folder. With that selected it should start the search from the folder you have open.
now, the other way I read your question is you’re trying to locate the files to move and you were getting the files that are in iCloud and not stored locally. If you control click on the top header in list view, you can select the iCloud status column, you can then sort by that column to isolate the ones that have not been downloaded from the ones that are local.
I had a feeling about that but I guess I was in denial - don't want to spend the 3+ hours getting to and going to the Apple store. You saved me a lot of time spinning my wheels at work and the insights you shared will definitely help on my other computers. Thank you so much.
Application memory isn’t storage, it’s RAM. However, that usually only happens if there’s some other underlying problems.
Finder - search local files only
