iCloud Drive downloads problem

I have 13,000 documents in my iCloud Drive on iCloud.com (2TB storage).


On my Mac, all these 13,000 appeared in my iCloud Drive folder. They all had a cloud icon with a downward pointing arrow. I am aware it means they have to be downloaded before I can access them.


So, I downloaded ALL 13,000 files from the iCloud folder on my Mac so that I can have access to them - it took more than 5 hours!!


I was convinced they were all downloaded on my Mac when none of them had the cloud icon anymore. So I had access to them.


And now, barely half a day later, all of them once again had the cloud with the downward pointing arrow next to them. So I have to download them again to have access to them.


I can't understand why Mac would download them all, just to "un-load" them again later on.


Is there any help out there please.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Oct 9, 2023 10:42 AM

Reply
3 replies

Oct 10, 2023 9:49 AM in response to roeloffrompretoria

Hello roeloffrompretoria,


With such a mass amount of files, the primary suspect would be storage on the Mac in question. When the files are downloaded, your Mac needs the space to house them, so if that was running low it may offload them again. How much space is currently free? You can check with See used and available storage space on your Mac - Apple Support.


Thanks!

iCloud Drive downloads problem

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