Saving documents on the hard drive... not iCloud

I suspect that your "view" may be different? Likely you are on "All My Files"? I'm using a MacBookPro running Sierra 10.12.6. Maybe try to make your view match this? Showing as a list, sidebar showing...

guppy34 wrote:

I suspect that your "view" may be different? Likely you are on "All My Files"? I'm using a MacBookPro running Sierra 10.12.6. Maybe try to make your view match this? Showing as a list, sidebar showing...

The View isn't going to change the fact that the poster indicated that they didn't have any of the files like Music, Movies, Pictures, etc. listed. That is the function of what you have selected to show in the Finder Preferences.

GB

The iCloud Drive Archive file is in your Home folder in the Finder. To find it easily, click on your Hard Drive icon, then in the Search Bar, type in Archive:

When you turn off Desktop & Documents (not iCloud Drive, just that option under the Options in iCloud Drive), it will create new, empty, Desktop and Documents folders for you. Then, locate your Archive, open the folder, and select any or all items and drag them to the new empty folders that were created.

Best,

GB

Hello LAKOOK, I believe the answer you are looking for is in the discussion that I will insert at the end of my post. Read FoxFifth's solution. It worked for me. The reason that I "ranted" is that it was not working by dragging a folder from the desktop to the sidebar.

I also believe that you can do this without turning off iCloud for the Desktop and Documents Folders. If you do have it on you and want to have those files and folders on your computer rather than in iCloud you will have to manually, yes manually, move them from iCloud to your new folder. If you turn it off you have to manually move them from iCloud to your computer.

Here is the link: Re: add new folder not icloud

Hope it works for you.

Peggy Sue Amelon wrote:

I believe that you have to turn off iCloud, then download all of those files and folders that it took off your computer and put them back on your computer. When you create a folder that is for files and folders NOT going to iCloud it must be done using these steps Re: add new folder not icloud Then you can flip on the iCloud switch on for Desktop and Documents should you choose to use it. I wish I had known this before turning it on as I now have a huge mess of duplicates that I don't have time to mess with. Fortunately I have a hard drive that can handle it all (the cloud is not that useful to me). Even though I'm a newbie to these forums, I hope this helps; I've had a Mac and only a Mac since 1988.

If you have the Desktop & Documents option turned on, then all Desktop items and all Documents will go to iCloud Drive. You can also save it to a local folder, but that has to be done intentionally. As I said in the previous post, if you are not syncing those Desktop and Document items with another Mac, then not sure why you have it turned on at all?

Cheers,

GB

Is there a way to do the exact opposite of this? Like if I have 2tb of files uploaded to my icloud and only a 128gb laptop, I obviously can't download it all and definitely don't want some algorithm guessing what files and folders I want using up my hard drive.

There is no way for you to use iCloud Drive and also to manually manage what documents are on your Mac. You have to use the Optimize feature and allow the algorithm to determine if a file needs to be removed from your Mac to manage available memory.

And the algorithm does not "guess". If you need more memory, then it leaves the most currently used documents on your Mac. You can download any document that lives in iCloud only when you have Optimization turned on.

Best of luck,

GB

Oh, I will admit there's a lot about the Mac systems I do not comprehend. Thank you for your response. My frustration has come from having been told several options I could follow to remedy my current computer problems. I've spent time on the phone with three different Apple support members, read many online articles regarding the iCloud Drive, and have a good friend that is very technically savvy with PC's and Macs, and still I find that I go down one road to find that the "answer" didn't work. Or in the case of one Mac tech support phone person, they didn't know the answer.

I'm attempting to connect all of the dots when it comes to how and where files are stored, and accessed, on today's Macs, and how to best proceed with storing (and preserving) files in the future.

Here's my story. I have a lot of family photos and videos that have been amassed over the last 10 years. In an effort to backup those items during that 10 year period, I have used a Western Digital hard drive, a 1TB Time Capsule, a 2TB Time Capsule, Dropbox, iCloud, and now the newest member to the collection is a LaCie 2TB hard drive.

And with every iPhone upgrade, yes, I have moved along many of those pictures to the larger drives on the next phone. The iPhone is another issue for another thread. It is currently only using 42 GB of an available 2 TB. And since the iPhone has used 238 GB, with only 13 GB remaining, I'll have to deal with that issue soon. But the phone is not contributing to the overall iCloud Drive/MBP space issues, as far as I can tell.

For some, that may be overkill, on backing up photos and videos on so many devices. But I very much want to preserve those photos and videos of my kids growing up. I haven't mentioned the hundreds of 8 mm and Hi-8 mm tapes I have to transfer to another format.

After much reading, and many conversations about the iCloud Drive, it would appear that I mistakenly viewed the iCloud, and iCloud Drive, as being suitable repository options for photos and videos. Along the same lines, some people would say that, like the iCloud, Dropbox should only be used to transfer files, and not for long term storage of files, photos, or videos. Others I have talked with, and articles I have read, indicate that "Dropbox is another option for storing photos". So which is it?

Sticking with just the iCloud issue, my understanding is that the iCloud is merely for syncing, or mirroring, what is on your laptop. In the case of photo storage, iCloud Drive leaves "shadow" files, as one source called them, on your laptop, while retaining the original files on the cloud.

Obviously I have not properly utilized, or understood, the syncing capabilities of the iCloud Drive, because my 2017 500 gig MBP, purchased in April of this year, is already down to 5.67 GB of remaining space. According to the System Preferences Finder pane, which I access upon looking at the Storage issues of the laptop, I have:

9.38 GB under Applications

186.45 GB under Documents

251.4 "MB" under iCloud Drive

200.66 GB under the iPhone iOS Files

672.8 "MB" under iTunes

2.58 GB under Mail

3.31 GB under Music Creation

94.06 GB under Photos

8.6 "MB" under Trash

One of my questions is, why, under "this" particular display of "Documents", are there 186.45 GB worth of photos and videos?

And why are many of those photos and videos duplicated under the "Pictures" heading?

On this screen, I am given the option to "sort through documents and permanently erase files you no longer need".

If I make an "archival copy" of what is on the cloud when given the option, what are the ramifications for the internal hard drive on the MBP? I would assume that 5 GB are not enough for the backup, is it?

I would like to make sure that I have transferred all of the photos and videos to an external hard drive before deleting anything. But yet I do not wish to keep transferring "duplicate" files of pictures and videos to external storage drives.

Why are there photos and videos under Documents on this pane? Have I not properly designated where photos and videos are to "go"? Shouldn't they end up under Pictures? And yet, the file size between Documents and Pictures are not the same, even though both areas have a lot of the same photos and videos in them.

Staying with the Storage reader, under System Information for this Mac, I have a reading of:

200.66 iOS Files

186.45 of Documents

94.06 of Photos

Should I be trying to off load the iOS files of the phone onto an external hard drive?

What type of duplication is going on between the photos and videos that are under Documents, with those that are under Pictures? There are obviously duplicates.

I do not understand how the iCloud Drive can "mirror" your laptop without filling up the laptop internal hard drive.

What I have started to do is offload photos from the 2017 MBP to the LaCie hard drive, with the plan to erase the photos from the MBP's internal hard drive once that process is complete. At least that should free up 94 GB.

After that I am planning to turn off the iCloud Drive, unless I can find a person, or an article, that can clarify how to use the system. The fact that I see others "having the same question" on so many of these discussion boards, regarding iCloud Drive and many other issues, tells me that Apple's goal to streamline their various products, for ease of use by the masses, does not always translate.

I appreciate any insights, or links to articles, that folks would like to provide. I really would like to become more versed with Mac products, but with kids and work, there's not always time to immerse oneself in all things Mac. And then when I attempt to, I find way too many "experts" offering advice that may, or may not, be applicable. Thanks in advance.

OK, let' start with the basics:

iCloud has several functions, all of which you can choose to use or not. The various services and features available under the iCloud umbrella are:

iCloud Sync: The iCloud Sync function allows you to select whether you want to sync your Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders, etc. between devices.

iOS Device iCloud Backups: You can back up the contents of your devices automatically or manually

iCloud Photo Library: You can use iCloud syncing/sharing services to upload all of your photos to a common library that can be accessed and shared by all of your devices and computers

iCloud Drive: You can upload files to iCloud Drive so that they can be shared among all of your devices and computers. An additional option here is to set up your Macs to use iCloud Drive to share your Desktop and Document folders between all of them. If you choose this option, then they all would have mirror desktops, and would also all have all documents between them.

In addition to all of the above iCloud features which do take up your allotted iCloud Storage, the following services are also available, and they do not take up any iCloud Storage:

Photo Stream

iCloud Photo Sharing

iCloud Music Library (for Apple Music and iTunes Match)

You can select any or all of these features, and tailor which ones you use individually by device. There is no overall dictate as to how you use iCloud and its various services.

Note: One other "Cloud" reference in the Apple lexicon is "iTunes in the Cloud". This particular phrase refers to your iTunes purchases that you do not have downloaded to a particular device, but which is represented on that device with a little cloud next to it, indicating that you can download it from iTunes in the Cloud where it is being saved for you.

Take a look at that outline to see what further questions you might have about the basic structure.

Cheers,

GB

Thank you Gail for the information. This may be one of those newbie computer questions, but since I cannot find anyone online that has answered it yet, I will ask it here. If I create a "new" folder on my MBP, to transfer the contents of my current "Documents" folder (at 186 GB in size), won't I need to have internal hard drive space, for that new folder, that is equal in size to the current file in Documents?

That is, if I am looking to preserve, on my laptop - not on the iCloud Drive - what is currently stored in the Documents folder (photos and pictures), before I ultimately turn off the iCloud Drive?

I would suggest creating a new uniquely named folder on your Mac hard drive, then start moving the things you want on your Mac manually from iCloud Drive. You may want the items in the same folder (all documents, for example), but you may want to put other types of files (like photos) into a different folder.

Just start moving them to the new folders on your Mac until you have moved everything you want to move, then delete the contents from iCloud Drive (if any remain), go to >System Preferences>iCloud>iCloud Drive>Options>, and turn off the Desktop & Documents option.

Cheers,

GB

Now I have a lot of files with "Out of Space" written underneath them.

Do you by any chance more files on iCloud Drive than will fit locally on your Mac?

In that case you will need to free storage on your Mac before you can disable the "Desktop&Documents" options and "Optimize Storage".

Hi GB--you seem very knowledgeable--can I follow-up with a question on this?

If I try to make a file on the computer it seems that no matter where I put it, it ends up in the iCloud--i.e. I can't seem to make a local file...everything seems to be defaulting to the iCloud...so how do I do what you recommend, above?
Thanks for your kind advice,
L

I understand that you need to make changes to system preference as you mention above to stop saving to icloud. I am a newbie to mac so cannot, even with reading articles and this convo, understand how to create a file on my hard drive to start moving docs from the cloud! I am great on windows, but this is not intuitive. Can you please walk me through creating a file folder on my hard drive? Many thanks!

Thank goodness, a sane person who thinks all of this is insane. I tried to say that in another post while trying to figure out how to use iCloud and my desktop. When I found out it wasn't possible to not use my Desktop and Documents folder in a user-friendly way and mentioned on that post that it seemed strange, I was insulted by one of the posters.

If you want to use iCloud, but not have everything uploaded, you can create a file in Home (name it what you wish) that does not have to be uploaded to iCloud, however, that means that you must move EVERYTHING in your Desktop and Documents Folders to it. Think about that. Since most of my files are in both/either of those folders it's a big move. Yes, it is as big a mess as it sounds. Thank goodness for Tembo because Spotlight can't seem to find anything.

So here is my really sad story regarding this unbeknownst-to-me move to iCloud. CenturyLink has unbeknownst-to-their-affected customers recently downgraded us from "high speed" internet of 10mb download (rarely achieved, but great for where we are) to 1.5mb (rarely achieved, and I get about .22-.32 upload speeds) without telling us. In the meantime, they were still charging us for 10mb. (But, this is another beef better suited for the BBB. We've been offered a "good-for-life" price that is more than what we were paying for the 10mb). The reason this comes up here is that while I was pulling my hair trying to figure out why my computer was working so slowly and so hard, part of the reason was that iCloud was uploading my Desktop and Documents Folders. Okay, I've had a Mac since 1998. It took years to be trained to use those folders so there are a few files there - over 30 GB's. After I figured out that I had, basically, dial-up internet and the iCloud wanted all of my file and had to buy more iCloud storage to accommodate it, I said, "Nope." It's painful enough waiting for a 5 GB website to load, I decided that I wasn't going to wait for my files to load to iCloud anymore. After I turned off iCloud it took about seven days to finally download, as in get back, MY files. What a mess.

I figure that if there was ONE System Folder, not both Desktop and Documents, that uploaded files to iCloud I'd be a happier camper and happy to pay for more iCloud storage. I guess that's the job of Box, Evernote, SugarSync, lest-we-forget Dropbox, et al.

The cloud need not be, but is the bane of my computing existence. Not everyone has access to decent internet and, therefore, has to keep information on their computers (don't even get me started on imap email). My job, firstly, does not (it's illegal) let me access the internet at work and, secondly, in the rare instance that it would be legal to access the internet, I am likely to be in an area where there is no service.

To 'farlanghn': I used to be a Mac fan, but I am becoming indifferent. Sloppy software execution, multiple cross-device issues, holding our information hostage, perilous OS upgrades - sounds like I could be using that other operating system. Darn.