I'm out of storage and I wish there were clear instructions I could follow to delete files from my iCloud Photo Library WITHOUT deleting them from my Mac. Insufficient detail for my (surely very common) situation. I have years of photos on My Mac

Question

Level 1

61 points

I'm out of storage and I wish there were clear instructions I could follow to delete files from my iCloud Photo Library WITHOUT deleting them from my Mac. Insufficient detail for my (surely very common) situation. I have years of photos on My Mac

I'm out of storage and I wish there were clear instructions I could follow to delete files from my iCloud Photo Library WITHOUT deleting them from my Mac.

This is inadequate:

HT204570: Get help with your iCloud Photo Library

Learn about Get help with your iCloud Photo Library

Insufficient detail for my (surely very common) situation.

I have years of photos on My Mac - more than would fit in my iCloud account - so I don't have iCloud Photo Library enabled on my Mac.

I'd like clear instructions on how I can delete files from my iCloud Photo Library WITHOUT messing things up further. I think simply turning on iCloud Photo Library on my Mac in order to then be able to delete things from my iCloud Photo Library will make things much worse - my system will try - and fail - to upload all my years of photos to iCloud and my iOS devices.

I THINK what I need to do given my situation is make it so the huge ton of Photos and videos on my Mac are moved to be outside of my System Library, so they won't upload or update across your devices. (HOW?) And then turn on iCloud Photo Library on my Mac, thin out my iCloud Photo Library, and switch Photos back to my photo archive. (HOW?)

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), SSD, USB, FireWire, external drives

Posted on Aug 23, 2016 11:38 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,044 points

Aug 23, 2016 11:48 AM in response to MrElvey

I'd start by asking in the Photos for Mac forum, which is the app you are using. iPhoto (the forum you posted in) has nothing to do with the iCloud Photo Library.

Photos for Mac

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Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Aug 23, 2016 1:32 PM in response to MrElvey

1 - you posted in the iPhoto for Mac forum and you are not using iPhoto for Mac as it has no possibility of using iCloud Photo Library - You are using Photos for Mac - I will request that your thread be moved ot the correct forum

2 - what you want is not possible - iCloud Photo Library has one and only one purpose adn that is to keep all libraries identical - every change made anywhere (additions, deletion or edit) is made everyplace - for devices with limited storage you use optimized photos on those devices

and your post makes no sense - please explain

delete files from my iCloud Photo Library WITHOUT deleting them from my Mac.

so I don't have iCloud Photo Library enabled on my Mac.

Are you using iCloud Photo library or not?

LN

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Answer 3

MrElvey Author

Level 1

61 points

Aug 23, 2016 2:37 PM in response to LarryHN

Yes Photos for Mac is the right forum. Thanks for moving it and requesting the move.

I'll clarify my post that you say makes "no sense" :

I have gigs of photos in my iCloud account. I have gigs of photos on my Mac too. They're different photos. I don't have iCloud Photo Library enabled on my Mac.

I'd like to delete photos from my iCloud account. I was speaking of an iCloud Photo Library on my Mac that doesn't yet exist, but I understand normally needs to exist in order to be able to get the photos from my iCloud account onto my Mac in the first place and then delete some from iCloud to make room there. When I was speaking of the photos in my iCloud account, I used the term iCloud Photo Library. That seems to have confused you. Given that Apple has FAQs like "How do I turn off iCloud Photo Library on just one device" (at the URL in my OP) I don't think my terminology was out of order.

my question, rephrased for greater clarity:

I'm out of storage and I wish there were clear instructions I could follow to delete photos from my iCloud account and yet keep them on my Mac.

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Aug 23, 2016 2:37 PM in response to MrElvey

If you are not using ICPL then there is no connection between your Mac and iCloud.com/Photos - moving photos to and from iCloud.com is manually done using a web browser and uploading or downloading - deleting from iCloud.com is a local operation and will not delete form your Mac - and you do not need to enable ICPL at all if yo do not want to - you can continue to only manually upload/download to/from iCloyd.com he same as you have been

LN

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