Nick English
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: iCloud and deleting files in Mobile documents

I have saved some files to the cloud and they are now saved in library/mobile documents.  Can I delete these to free up space? Thanks

Nick

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Nov 18, 2014 7:27 AM

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Nick English

Q: iCloud and deleting files in Mobile documents

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  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Nov 18, 2014 7:39 AM in response to Nick English
    Level 10 (105,312 points)
    iLife
    Nov 18, 2014 7:39 AM in response to Nick English
    Can I delete these to free up space? Thanks

    No, if you delete them, you cannot access your iCloud Drive. That folder is where iCloud Drive is stored on your Mac.

     

    Storing on iCloud Drive will not free space on your Mac. It is not an external drive, it is essentially a synced folder. iCloud Drive keeps the documents on your Mac in sync with iCloud and across all other synced devices.

  • by Nick English,

    Nick English Nick English Nov 18, 2014 7:43 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 18, 2014 7:43 AM in response to léonie

    Many thanks.  I am glad I asked!  So, if I want to free space I need to save files on external hard drives, iCloud simply enables me to effectively view files across Apple devices.  It is a "sharing" device, rather than storage device?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Nov 18, 2014 7:53 AM in response to Nick English
    Level 10 (105,312 points)
    iLife
    Nov 18, 2014 7:53 AM in response to Nick English

    Yes, the drive is mainly for syncing.  See this link:    iCloud Drive FAQ

     

    Here's what you can do with iCloud Drive:

    • Store and access all of your documents in one place from any of your devices
    • Keep files and folders up to date across all your devices
    • Create new files and folders from iCloud-enabled apps
    • Work on the same file across multiple apps

    To free space on your Macs internal drive, get yourself an external drive. The new portable SSD drives are so small, that it is no hardship to carry them around.

    So, if I want to free space I need to save files on external hard drives, iCloud simply enables me to effectively view files across Apple devices.