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how can you see what's stored in icloud?

Does anyone know how to see what's stored in icloud using the ipad2?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Dec 3, 2011 12:43 PM

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Posted on Dec 3, 2011 12:45 PM

visit www.icloud.com

13 replies

Mar 4, 2012 3:26 PM in response to shelleylynne

This has not been answered. When I go to iCloud.com on my iPad, I see the same three options as above, even though my iPad is already set up for automatic iCloud back-up. I am stymied at that point and cannot go any further than the 3 option screen.

When I go to that address on my computer, I can see 4 or 5 folders with their contents.

The crux question remains: why can't I see the 4 or 5 folders and their contents on my iPad???

Jul 14, 2012 10:35 AM in response to mezorba

The problem is, you are thinking about it wrong. iCloud is not a single server where you have a "location" with your stuff. hence you will not be able to browse files and directories in the traditional tree. The Cloud is a cluster of servers and the information you upload (mostly apps like email, photos, documents) is distributed over multiple servers that change from one day to the next. I don't quite understand it myself. I kind of think, well, why doesn't Apple provide an alias (for redirection) that is transparent to me...which goes to all my stuff. I can't figure out what I have up there either. For example, I've run out of storage space so I would like to know what I've "uploaded."


I think however that the way you manage your content is on your own computer. Then you "sync" it with the Cloud. So its more like a snapshot of your computer at the point you are syncing it. If you get a better answer, please post it here!

Jul 14, 2012 11:31 AM in response to mefish515

Not only is mezorba not understanding how iCloud works, neither are you. It's a little confusing to many and I am no expert, but this is what I know and understand about how iCloud works.


There is no reason to access iCloud.com from a mobile device and therefore, you can't. Oh you can open the website, but you only see the three options listed above as noted.


The reason that you don't need to access iCloud.com on your iPad is because you have access to everything in iCloud right on the device itself.


Look at the options in the settings for iCloud ......


Mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, bookmarks, Photo Stream, documents and data, and Find My IPad.

You have access to all of that on the iPad. What reason do you need to access iCloud.com on the iPad. It's already on the device itself. All of the apps that will sync with iCloud are already on the iPad and all of the files that are in those apps are already stored in the apps themselves.


You access the iCloud.com account on a computer so that you can access iWorks files and any other files that work with iCloud. You launch a web browser, sign into your account and then you see what your options are. You can download files and edit them and then upload the files again by dragging them into the browser window. Those files will then be available on the iPad in the edited version.


If you want to see what is stored in your iCloud account on the iPad go to Settings>iCloud>storage and backup>Manage Storage>iPad Name. You can see all of the apps that are storing data in iCloud. All of your purchases are stored in iCloud, so if you bought it from iTunes or the App Store, it is in iCloud.


Mezorba made this comment ....

"The crux question remains: why can't I see the 4 or 5 folders and their contents on my iPad???"


The answer is that you can. All of that is already on the iPad. You don't need to go to iCloud.com to see it. Why would you go to the cloud when you have access to it on the device?


Does this make sense to you now?

Jul 14, 2012 12:01 PM in response to Demo

I'm pretty sure that's what I said...but in fewer words. Quoting myself: "the way you manage your content is on your own computer [device]."


But I'm still confused about syncing. I don't think this is intuitive--least of all not when you are synching multiple devices. And I would still like to know what Photos of mine are available to me if my devices are lost or stolen. I see no way of knowing which photos are stored remotely since I routinely delete photos on my device when I run out of room on my phone. I'm pretty sure that my settings have my photos being automatically synced ("uploaded") to iCloud daily. But when I remove them on my iPhone/iPad, are they then removed remotely? I'm out of Cloud storage now and I would just like an easy way to see what Photos are saved, or at what point new ones were no longer being saved because of lack of storage space.

Jul 14, 2012 4:37 PM in response to mefish515

As I said, I do understand the basics and I know why you can't access your iCloud.com on a mobile device, but I only use iCloud for syncing Pages documents and to move them to and from my Mac. I don't take photos with my iDevices (I don't have an iPhones - I have an iPod Touch 4th gen and the new iPad) so Photo Stream is of no interest to me.


This should answer your Photo Stream questions. I believe that the photos are pushed to your computer so if you delete them on the device, they are stored on the PC. And they are not stored indefinitely in the cloud either. But you can read this and see for yourself.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4486

Aug 20, 2012 1:53 PM in response to Demo

In a rather good explanation of iCloud, Demo stated: "All of that is already on the iPad. You don't need to go to iCloud.com to see it. Why would you go to the cloud when you have access to it on the device?"


Here's one reason. I moved my wife's MBP to Lion just a few days ago since she got a new iPad for her birthday. Since I had never used iCloud on my Mac, I didn't think about the possibility that iCloud would be set up to automatically save Documents & Data to it from her MBP. Apparently, that's normal and the way Apple thinks we should do it. I have other opinions.


I then noticed that what appeared to be a statement on her iPad that said she was using 4.93GB out of her 5GB available! First thing I did was to un-check the "Documents & Data" on what was being synced to iCloud. I got a dialog basically saying that things would be synced the next time we connected the iPad to her MBP. I assumed that meant her Documents & Data would be returned/updated on her MBP to match what was in the cloud. Fortunately, I think, I returned that setting to checked/enabled.


(Change in details: the tiny print on the iPad actually said that there was 4.93GB available, not used. 😝 )


I then found that setting in her MBP System Prefs. I must admit, it was a new Pref page, but, sure enough, it was set to sync Documents & Data to the cloud. So, I assumed that was part of the problem and UNchecked it. However, this time I got a much more disturbing dialog! It said that all that data would be removed from her computer! WHAT! We don't even know what 'documents & data' that could be! Obviously something she created in the last few days but that's all we know nor does there seem to be a way to keep from having it DELETED!


Perhaps my grasp of the English language is slipping (even more!) but is it possible that if the computer setting for 'data' is unchecked but NOT on the iPad, that the iPad data will actually be downloaded to the computer... to replace what was DELETED? That doesn't seem like a logical way to do things. 😼

Aug 21, 2012 7:53 PM in response to xairbusdriver

I watched a ~2hr video at TidBITS.com (look for the 8/1/2012 presentation) that shed some light on what is happening behind our backs with iCloud, at least in Mountain Lion and the new 'save to the cloud' default behavior in that OS. I wrote a post for Techsurvivors.net and I'll simply copy most of it here. Most of this info is from Matt Nueburg at TidBITS.


Anyway, Matt displayed something that should directly apply to what gets deleted when one gets the dialog I posted... at least in Mountain Lion. A short description of what is actually going on when things are "saved" to iCloud should help.
First, this description is based on the vid which was concerned with Mountain Lion, any comparison with 10.7/Lion may be purely coincidental!
One of the things you will notice in ML is that the "Open" dialog looks different than any other OS X Open dialog. There are two buttons/labels showing where the documents are stored: iCloud or On My Mac. Clicking one will not show the same thing as the other (unless the user has done a lot of tedious work).


Remember, Apple has set the default location for saving documents in ML to be iCloud. Of course, you can change that, manually, with every save.


What Matt revealed, however, is that what we are shown, even with the "iCloud" view of our saved documents is actually what has been saved on our own HD. In ML, there is a new folder/directory called "Mobile Documents" in each user Library. That folder/directory does not exist in 10.7/Lion. I have one instance of it and that is on the installation of ML on an external drive.


In the this "Mobile Documents" folder are sub-folders for every iCloud savvy app (right now there are only a few of those apps: TextEdit, Pages, Mail, Preview, etc...). Inside those app-folders (named "com-apple-TextEdit" for example) is at least one "Documents" folder. Inside each "Documents" folder are either documents created by that app or a sub-folder (which the user can create) containing other documents. Note that this is a rather simple "two" level filing system: a "Documents" folder for each app with actual documents or user-defined folder(s) with documents.


Matt demonstrated that this simple hierarchy is actually what is displayed in the "Open" dialog when the "iCloud" button/selection is active. You are actually looking at your own HD file system, not the "cloud." The important thing here is that you can open and work on a document "in the cloud" even when you don't even have an Internet connection! When you eventually do have a connection with the Internet, the work you did will be synced with what is in iCloud.

Since my wife and I are still in 10.7/Lion, there is no "Mobile Documents" directory to be found. Nor do I know for a fact that anything has actually been saved either in the cloud or in some directory on her MBP that will actually be deleted when I turn off "Documents & Data." But you can also be sure I'm not about to take the chance that I would be the cause of her losing anything!!! Not me!!! 😉

Dec 16, 2016 10:18 AM in response to Demo

What i'm understanding from this is that whatever is on my computer is in the iCloud. Ergo, if I want to delete something from iCloud to make space, I delete it from the device where it originated (Camera Roll, for example), and it will automatically be deleted from iCloud. If I deleted something important from my device by accident, I would be out of luck because it would also be deleted from iCloud and I would never get it back. Unless I go into iCloud within the next 30 days to download it back (so how would I do that?) So if I have anything I really, REALLY don't want to lose, I need to print it out and keep it in a safe place, and/or back it up on an external hard drive.


Correct?

Dec 16, 2016 10:33 AM in response to Artichoke25

Artichoke25 wrote:


So if I have anything I really, REALLY don't want to lose, I need to print it out and keep it in a safe place, and/or back it up on an external hard drive.


Correct?

In a nutshell, yes. iCloud gives you access to files and documents from any computer at any time when you sign into your iCloud.com account in a web browser. iCloud is not storage device like a thumb drive or an external drive. If you delete something from iCloud, you delete it on all devices that are using iCloud for those apps.


IF you want to see what is in iCloud from a computer, log into iCloud.com with your Apple ID and password or your iCloud username and password. Ideally, your Apple ID and password are also your iCloud ID and password. They can be different, but that makes things unnecessarily complicated.


You should always download important files to your computer and back them up to another drive as well. Backup your backups. Camera roll photos, though, are stored in a backup and not on iCloud as such. If you delete Camera Roll photos from the device, you have 30 days to retrieve them from the Recently Deleted album. Import your camera roll photos to your computer and you can delete them from the device if you choose to do so.


Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

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