Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Why am I getting messages from Apple that I'm running out of my 5GB iCloud storage when I have only 32mb on my drive and almost no applications using iCloud?
And how do I determine where the storage is being used?
iPhone X, iOS 11.3.1
With the help of Apple support we were able to fix this problem as follows.
The iCloud Drive erroneous message that I was using 4.7GB instead of the 33mb I could see on my iCloud Drive was caused by the fact that Apple continues to store items deleted by the user invisibly on the iCloud Drive and does not inform users it is doing so. So in fact recently deleted items still take up storage space on the iCloud Drive even though users think they were deleted.
To permanently remove these deleted items from my iCloud Drive I did the following:
1. Log into iCloud.com
2. Click on "iCloud Drive"
3. Click on "Recently Deleted" at the lower right hand corner of the window. That will display any recently deleted items that in fact are still on your iCloud Drive taking up storage space.
4. Then open each individual folder in your iCloud Drive and similarly click on "Recently Deleted" at the lower right hand corner of the folder's window to see if there are any deleted items still in that particular folder.
5. If any "Recently Deleted" items appear you may remove them from the drive by selecting each file individually and pressing the delete key on your keyboard. (Use the keyboard delete key instead of the delete icon at the top of the window because in my case clicking that icon generated an error message and failed to delete the items.)
6. You may also select multiple items by holding down the Command key and clicking them before pressing your delete key. You may also hold down the Command key and "A" to select all the items showing and then press the delete key on your keyboard to remove them permanently from your drive. (In my case I had over 300 items I'd deleted in one folder that were actually still on the iCloud Drive, so I used Command "A" to select them all and then delete them pressing the delete key on my keyboard.
By removing these "Recently Deleted" items I thought I'd already deleted (and were not showing in my finder), I was able to free 4.7 GB of storage on my iCoud Drive!
With the help of Apple support we were able to fix this problem as follows.
The iCloud Drive erroneous message that I was using 4.7GB instead of the 33mb I could see on my iCloud Drive was caused by the fact that Apple continues to store items deleted by the user invisibly on the iCloud Drive and does not inform users it is doing so. So in fact recently deleted items still take up storage space on the iCloud Drive even though users think they were deleted.
To permanently remove these deleted items from my iCloud Drive I did the following:
1. Log into iCloud.com
2. Click on "iCloud Drive"
3. Click on "Recently Deleted" at the lower right hand corner of the window. That will display any recently deleted items that in fact are still on your iCloud Drive taking up storage space.
4. Then open each individual folder in your iCloud Drive and similarly click on "Recently Deleted" at the lower right hand corner of the folder's window to see if there are any deleted items still in that particular folder.
5. If any "Recently Deleted" items appear you may remove them from the drive by selecting each file individually and pressing the delete key on your keyboard. (Use the keyboard delete key instead of the delete icon at the top of the window because in my case clicking that icon generated an error message and failed to delete the items.)
6. You may also select multiple items by holding down the Command key and clicking them before pressing your delete key. You may also hold down the Command key and "A" to select all the items showing and then press the delete key on your keyboard to remove them permanently from your drive. (In my case I had over 300 items I'd deleted in one folder that were actually still on the iCloud Drive, so I used Command "A" to select them all and then delete them pressing the delete key on my keyboard.
By removing these "Recently Deleted" items I thought I'd already deleted (and were not showing in my finder), I was able to free 4.7 GB of storage on my iCoud Drive!
iCloud storage alerts with little on drive
