When I logged out of iCloud, it asked and I moved my documents to iCloud archive. So now I have an "archived file" which store all my old files and I can't seem to get them back into their original files on iCloud. It lets me transfer the big file, but it doesn't update and restore the existing iCloud files. How do I move files back to their original place? I have tried many suggested things but they do not work.
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13
Open system preferences > iCloud and uncheck the box of iCloud Drive a pop up window appears , showing to keep a copy of documents , and remove from the Mac .
( a ) if you had clicked on keep a copy , they will be archived in home folder that can be viewed by clicking on finder in the dock , take cursor on top menu bar > Go > Home > your user name > iCloud Drive ( Archive ) .
You mentioned - It lets me transfer the big file, but it doesn't update and restore the existing iCloud files. How do I move files back to their original place?
You have to uncheck the box of optimise storage from Mac system preferences Optimise storage space on your Mac - Apple Support
The sufficient space will be created , the restoring of existing iCloud files will appear when the box of iCloud Drive is again checked see this article also Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support
Note : you don't need to select iCloud files from iCloud Drive ( archive ) and copy and paste again in iCloud Drive > documents in finder , these files are second copy that are stored in iCloud Drive ( archive ) .
So, I gather that all I have to do is to take this Archived iCloud file to the waste basket after I check the iCloud box in Preferences and uncheck the Optimized Storage box. - i.e. that all the files in this archived iCloud file should be restored in the iCloud drive.
Thank you for your help with this issue. It was confusing because the Archived iCloud file looked different from the restored iCloud Drive.
Archived iCloud files
