Mojave: Docs & Desktop iCloud sync

I updated my MacOS to Mojave few days ago. Trying to figure all this out, inside of "Preferences", I checked "iCloud Drive" and inside of "Options" I checked "Desktop and Documents Folders". With that, folders and files showed up on my Mac desktop. Also, I looked at the Time Machine backup. It contains these same folders and files. I then disconnected my Mac from the internet by turning Wi-Fi off. I could still open the files on the Desktop.

It would appear that actual files are on the Desktop, and that these files are copied to Time Machine backups.

…, but because I want the files to remain on my Mac as well as backed up in the cloud. I am running Mojave (10.14.1).

They do remain on your Mac as long as you don't tell it to "Optimize Storage." Nothing is ever actually moved when you enable Desktop & Documents in iCloud Drive. As long as they are not "optimized," It is just File System "magic" (hard links) that makes you think they have been moved.

Back to the original post,

You can keep all your files local AND sync them to iCloud, provided you have enough storage space on your local computer. It isn't one or the other.

I have stored everything in iCloud and kept all my files locally on a 15" Macbook Pro without issue for years. I recently upgraded to Mojave 10.14.1 (after the "dot" bug-fix release) also without any issues with iCloud.

The real benefit of iCloud is syncing files for access on other devices.

I use a Macbook Pro 15" (optimized storage OFF + iCloud), an iMac 27" at work (only syncing user settings, calendar, mail accounts), a Macbook Pro 13" (optimized storage ON), an iPad Pro, and an iPhone.

With Optimized Storage set to ON, you will see a 'cloud' icon in the Finder if a file or folder is ONLY in the cloud (and will not be accessible offline. Clicking the icon downloads it locally to your device.

I do pay the couple dollars a month for the $200gb iCloud plan. For me, just opening another device and having it connect to wifi automatically, typing an email and having a text replacement shortcut I just made on my iphone automagically work on my laptop is worth it alone (user settings sync).

p.s.

I found this thread because I actually have the reverse problem - I cloned my older 512gb laptop to a smaller 256gb laptop and ran out of space. I turned optimized storage 'on', though the computer has been very slow to free up space.

FWIW, This utility looks promising:

GitHub - Obbut/iCloud-Control: User-controlled selective sync for iCloud Drive

- Semiconducted

My syncing problems began with Mojave, if that helps. They certainly have not changed the behavior you are describing (disappearing files from Documents when turning off syncing).

You need to go back and read what I explained.

Nothing is ever moved except things that were Optimized.

Even when you turn it off, the non-optimized files are still stored on your hard drive.

Your steps are completely unnecessary.

1. When you disable D&D, hard links are created in your Mobile Documents folder and removed from your Home Desktop and Documents folders (which were previously hidden), and those folders are unhidden.
2. That is already visible via iCloud Drive.
3. Just move them from iCloud Drive as was explained in the dialog when you turned it off.
4. You should have done this first.
5. Not created, just unhidden.
6. No need to pray or restart. Moving the files from iCloud Drive to your Desktop and Documents folders will move the files from your Mobile Documents folder into your respective home folders, almost instantaneously.

It *potentially* removes them.

The contents of your iCloud drive may be cached locally, depending on how much free space you have.

I have just tried disconnecting my mac from the internet, and could still see documents in my iCloud drive.

Not sure how the above will work when Documents and Desktop in iCloud are active, because I do not use that feature.

I only save some files to iCloud Drive when I choose to, I have waaaay more than 5GB of data, and still more than enough space on my mac to store it. (I also backup regularly and redundantly)

I am afraid you can't have it both ways. The idea offered by Documents and Desktop in iCloud is twofold: to be able to access them from different machines, and to save space in your drive.

You can't save any space if everything has to be there.

As I wrote before, I use iCloud Drive, and find it very useful.

I do not, however, use Documents and Desktop in iCloud.

For the regular iCloud Drive, documents that are stored locally in

~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

- apparently, with the exception of those saved directly into application folders.

iCloud Drive has this strange duality: it shows "folders" named after applications (the ones that exist in both macOS and iOS, like Pages or Numbers), and also normal folders, which you may create using the Finder, and used to save any kind of document you want (much like in a normal folder in your hard drive).

Folders you create manually using the Finder are there, accessible even with internet, and in a known location.

Just try doing, in Terminal:

ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

or, in the Finder, press command-shift-G and paste

~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

(note the subtlety: in the Terminal, you have to escape the space character between "Mobile" and "Documents", but you don't do it in the Finder go to folder window)

Guess what: Finder will take you to iCloud Drive.

Note: The folders automatically used by iOS applications are not accessible in Terminal, and understandably so - this would probably violate the walled garden philosophy of iOS, where you don't have real access to documents via the file system, and applications can only see their own documents (well, now a little more open using "Files" application on iOS)

so I have no experience of how it (mis)behaves under Mojave.

As far as I have found, it doesn't misbehave at all.

I updated to Mojave about a 2 weeks ago and the iCloud syncing with Documents and Desktop doesn't work anymore. I'm running Mojave 10.14 on a 2016 MacBook Pro. It worked great with Sierra and High Sierra.

I already attempted turning automatic syncing off, then turning back on. It eventually repopulated my Documents and Desktop with the iCloud files, but the problem persists. It continues to stay in limbo when updating files, thus not uploading the latest versions to iCloud.

Since I use my computer for work, I don't feel I can rely on this anymore, and will be solely relying on a backup drive for my files. Unfortunate.

Horrible situation for me. Like others here, I enabled Desktop & Documents for iCloud, just to see what it does. (Perhaps I also "optimized storage" but I don't recall.) Whn looking at Finder ,it moved my Documents folder from the Favorites section to being under the iCloud icon -- I found this weird because I wanted my Documents to remain where they had always been and remain on my local hdd. So I returned to the place where I had enabled iCloud Drive and I dis-enabled it. It then told me it was going to "download an iCloud Archive folder". I assumed that this folder was redundant, and that all my files were still in Documents on my hdd. After all, I never removed those files from Documents and never told anyone to remove them. After the iCloud Archive folder was downloaded I moved it to my Trash (and since my Trash is set to immediately delete it was deleted). I then went to Finder and saw that Documents was back to the original location under Favorites, except when I clicked on Documents it was entirely empty -- every single file disappeared. It was as if it was "reformetted". Total disaster. Lost every file. I am now working with an IT friend who is going to scan the hdd and try to find the deleted iCloud Archive folder.

Buyer beware with iCloud drive. You should not have to be a Mac OS ninja to manage your files. The OS took all my files out of Documents and put it in something called iCloud Archive file, all without telling me it would do this. I may have lost of year of work files. At best I will lose a day fo my time as we work on the hdd to rescue the files.

Agreed, it's non-intuitive and should be easier to be able to keep the files visible and accessible as they are in Documents/Desktop (yes, you just don't see them, but thats the point) and still turn off or reset syncing somehow. This is aside from the fact that syncing has been flaky at best since the Mojave update, and usually wasn't a problem before. Also, when clicking the "pie" icon in the finder window that represents current file movement to the cloud, it brings up an ever-expanding list of uploads that are stuck in limbo, with one saying about 75% uploaded for about a week now, and others below it not showing any progress. And yet another problem on top: the "pie" icon doesn't show unless I resize the left finder column, then it shows, so you can't even see the progress from that. Very buggy and not Apple-like.

Hard to tell what has been synced and what hasn't. This also does not clear when turning off syncing and turning back on.