HT204264: iCloud Photo Library

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thepaiots

Q: Can I delete on my Mac the photo after uploading those to iCloud?

Hi, can anyone help me to understand whether or not I can delete the Photo on my Mac, once I uploaded into iCloud, in order to have more available space on my hard drive?

If yes, how?

Many thanks.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 27, 2015 12:32 AM

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Q: Can I delete on my Mac the photo after uploading those to iCloud?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Oct 27, 2015 12:44 AM in response to thepaiots
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 27, 2015 12:44 AM in response to thepaiots

    How are you uploading the photos to iCloud? 

    • Are you using the Photos.app with iCloud Photo Library enabled on your Mac?  Then you cannot delete the photo from Photos on your mAc. The Photos Library on your mAc will be in sync with the copy in iCloud. Any photo you delete from Photos on your Mac will be deleted from iCloud as well.
    • If you are not using the Photos.app on your Macwith iCloud Photo Library enabled, but the web interface and the Photos.app  at https://www.icloud.com/#photos   , you can delete  the photos from your mac, that you upload to iCloud, because the Photos library on your Mac is not set to update iCloud.

    See: iCloud Photo Library FAQ

  • by thepaiots,

    thepaiots thepaiots Oct 27, 2015 12:45 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 12:45 AM in response to léonie

    I am actually uploading from the Photos app...

    Photos-->Preferences-->iCloud

    Do I have any other option ?

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Oct 27, 2015 1:28 AM in response to thepaiots
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 27, 2015 1:28 AM in response to thepaiots

    Enable  "optimize Mac storage" in the photos Preferences iCloud pane.

     

    this way, photos wil remove the original image files from your Mac, if space is needed, and replace them by smaller, optimized versions. When the originals are needed, they will be rietrieved from iCloud. You will need an Internet connection to edit your photos in photos, if you use the optimize option.

  • by AlekThunder,

    AlekThunder AlekThunder Oct 27, 2015 1:28 AM in response to thepaiots
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 27, 2015 1:28 AM in response to thepaiots

    If you’d like just store images in iCloud, turn on iCloud. After that wait until all photos will be uploaded. From this you can delete your Photos library from your Mac. If in the future you want to have them in your Mac, just create a new empty library an turn on iCloud in it; all images will be downloaded 

    If you’d like to save your Mac storage, you also can create a virtual disk of small size and create Photos library in it with also setting Optimised mode.

    But my mind is - iCloud is not the way to save Mac space. To me, the best way is - having WebDAV cloud service - all the images are in cloud and nothing is in Mac

  • by thepaiots,

    thepaiots thepaiots Oct 27, 2015 1:40 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 1:40 AM in response to léonie

    Shall I do it once the upload to iCloud is completed?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 27, 2015 3:48 AM in response to thepaiots
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 27, 2015 3:48 AM in response to thepaiots

    You can enable "Optimize Mac Storage" anytime.

     

    But make a current backup of your Photos Library before you do that. It is much safer to have a local backup of all your photos and not to have to rely on iCloud to access them.  Otherwise you will be in trouble oin case of network problems.