I have a local folder "iCloud Drive" and documents folder on my local drive. The iCloud drive folder was there from before they started automatically linking the documents folder to iCloud. The local iCloud drive folder is taking up a lot of space. Do I still need it? Can I delete it?
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)
No. iCloud Drive is a syncing service and normally will keep a local copy of your documents in the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac. There is an Optimize Mac Storage option that can potentially reduce the storage space required on your Mac. See the following from Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
The files that you keep in iCloud Drive use your iCloud storage. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud and on your device, you can store as many files as you like.
If you need more space on your device, iCloud Drive can help. On your Mac, go to Apple menu
> System Preferences > iCloud. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options and turn on Optimize Mac Storage. Then your Mac keeps all of your recent files on your computer, but keeps your older ones only in iCloud, ready for you to download when you need them again. If you want to free up more space on your Mac, follow these steps. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can search and browse files from all of your devices and download them only as you need them.
You can also free up space on your device and in iCloud Drive when you delete files. Then go to your Recently Deleted folder in the Files app or on iCloud.com and delete the files there. Before you delete anything, make sure that you back up the files that you still want. When you use iCloud Drive and delete a file on one device, it deletes on your other devices too. iCloud removes the files from every device that you're signed in to with the same Apple ID.
No. iCloud Drive is a syncing service and normally will keep a local copy of your documents in the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac. There is an Optimize Mac Storage option that can potentially reduce the storage space required on your Mac. See the following from Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
The files that you keep in iCloud Drive use your iCloud storage. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud and on your device, you can store as many files as you like.
If you need more space on your device, iCloud Drive can help. On your Mac, go to Apple menu
You can also free up space on your device and in iCloud Drive when you delete files. Then go to your Recently Deleted folder in the Files app or on iCloud.com and delete the files there. Before you delete anything, make sure that you back up the files that you still want. When you use iCloud Drive and delete a file on one device, it deletes on your other devices too. iCloud removes the files from every device that you're signed in to with the same Apple ID.
iCloud drive on local drive
