iCloud Drive Vs. Desktop & Documents Folders

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Level 1

12 points

iCloud Drive Vs. Desktop & Documents Folders

Cannot seem to find the answer to this anywhere......even though these are very fundamental questions about how iCloud Drive works.

iMac settings includes those for iCloud Drive. In the menu for iCloud Drive setup there are 2 on/off buttons:

iCloud Drive On/Off
Desktop & Documents Folders On/Off

What are the implications on how iCloud Drive handles files with switch #1 On and switch #2 Off?

Is switch #1 only for a certain subset of programs' files? Whereas switch #2 is for a different set of files? (Note that all files are stored in the Documents folder.)

With switch #2 off, can a document be copy/pasted to iCloud Drive in order to have a backup of that file? If so, will deleting the file on iCloud Drive also delete from the iMac? Or does this method keep the files from Synching?

Thank you for any help on this. As said above, I just cannot seem to find an answer.

iMac Pro (2017)

Posted on Oct 10, 2023 4:34 PM

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Answer 1

VARanger1 Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 11, 2023 1:18 PM in response to FoxFifth

FoxFifth - With your info and a few test cases I finally have it figured out.

On the iMac, with iCloud Drive setting to On and with iCloud Drive Desktop/Documents setting to Off it is possible to use iCloud Drive for simple backup of files. Without the files synchronizing.

The key is to copy/paste files from the iMac/Documents subfolder to the iCloud/Documents subfolder. This is easily done using Finder on the iMac. No need to specifically log into iCloud as it's done in the background.

It is interesting that nowhere could I find a description of this in the iCloud Drive help files.

Thanks again.

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Answer 2

rawsaxy

Level 1

120 points

Jun 29, 2024 1:23 PM in response to VARanger1

Hi VARanger1,

I would like to share two videos from MacMost that explain this very well, in my opinion.

If after watching them you still have any questions, go ahead and let me know.

iCloud Drive With or Without Desktop & Documents Folders

What Happens When You Turn Off Desktop & Documents Folders for iCloud Drive?

In God's Harmony

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Answer 3

FoxFifth

Level 10

471,951 points

Oct 10, 2023 4:44 PM in response to VARanger1

If only iCloud Drive is turned on then only files/folders inside the iCloud Drive folder are synced with iCloud. Desktop files/folders, files/folders in the Documents folder, files/folders in any other folder other than iCloud Drive re not synced. You can access the iCloud Drive folder from the Finder "Go" menu or from the Finder sidebar.

If you turn on the Desktop and Documents option on after turning iCloud Drive on, then in addition to the above everything on the Desktop and everything in your Documents folder is also synced with iCloud.

In either of the above, if you delete a synced file from iCloud it will also be deleted from any of your devices that are syncing. There is no iCloud only storage option.

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Answer 4

VARanger1 Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 10, 2023 5:48 PM in response to FoxFifth

FoxFifth - Thanks for the quick reply. However, I still remained somewhat confused. Based on the above, I tried a test:

Created a Numbers file on the iMac and stored it in the Numbers folder on iCloud. Deleted it from iCloud. As you indicated, it also deleted the file on my iMac.

Created a simple text file on the iMac. Copy and Pasted it into the iCloud Documents folder. Deleted it from iCloud. It did not delete from the iMac. Permanently deleted it from the trash folder in iCloud. It still did not delete it from the iMac. In this scenario, iCloud and iMac are not in sync.

So, the critical factor is the folder that the file is stored in on iCloud, i.e., the Numbers folder versus the Documents folder? (Along with the Documents folder setting being turned off with switch #2.) Or did copy/paste have something to do with it?

Anyway.... any further thoughts are appreciated.

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Answer 5

FoxFifth

Level 10

471,951 points

Oct 10, 2023 6:47 PM in response to VARanger1

A file in a folder that is synced should delete from all synced devices no matter where you delete it from. If a file is in iCloud Drive or any iCloud Drive folder (no matter how it got there) and you have syncing turned on in one or more devices, anything that you do to that file (edit or delete) in iCloud or in any device, it should sync with all devices.

Usually if you have a Mac with iCloud Drive turned on, you simply save the file directly on the Mac to the iCloud Drive folder (or subfolder) and delete it directly from there using Finder. It sounds like you are copying and pasting using an internet browser and going to iCloud.com. Or maybe you are copying and pasting the file to the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac? Either should work but is extra work and isn't clear to me the exact scenario of what you did.

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iCloud Drive Vs. Desktop & Documents Folders

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