You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

How to delete local files but keep them in iCloud?

My laptop is almost full and I don't have the cash for an external hard drive right now. How can I back up a folder in iCloud, delete it from my desktop, and ensure that iCloud doesn't delete the folder too?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Aug 25, 2023 10:10 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 25, 2023 10:27 AM

You cannot. icloud is primarily a synchronization service, not offline storage. You can elect to optimize your storage if you wish to sync with icloud. Optimizing will remove your largest/least accessed files from your computer to free space while retaining the files in icloud. System Settings > Apple ID > icloud > icloud Drive

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 25, 2023 10:27 AM in response to TiaaTortilla

You cannot. icloud is primarily a synchronization service, not offline storage. You can elect to optimize your storage if you wish to sync with icloud. Optimizing will remove your largest/least accessed files from your computer to free space while retaining the files in icloud. System Settings > Apple ID > icloud > icloud Drive

How to delete local files but keep them in iCloud?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.