There are a lot of parts to iCloud: Family Sharing, Backups, Keychain, and all the rest. It’s tough to wrap your head around it all. And then you hear about iCloud Drive, it isn’t just another name for iCloud, but what’s the difference between them anyway?
They’re both cloud services offered by Apple. They’re both free. And they’re both used to securely store your data online. But they aren’t the same thing!
Read on to find out what iCloud Drive is, and how to make the most of it. We even included an FAQ at the end for all your lingering questions.
Related:
- iCloud in macOS Catalina, an overview of the key changes
- Triple-protect yourself by creating backups of your iCloud Drive files
- Step-by-step guide to your free 5GB iCloud Drive
- How to free up iCloud Storage — 5 essential tips
Contents
- What is iCloud?
- What is iCloud Drive?
- How do I turn on iCloud Drive?
- Does iCloud Drive use storage on my device?
- How do I access my files on iCloud Drive?
- How do I manage files in iCloud Drive?
- How do I save documents to iCloud Drive?
- How do I turn off iCloud Drive?
- FAQs
What is iCloud?
iCloud is Apple’s cloud service. With an Apple device, you can save all kinds of data to iCloud, which syncs that information to your other devices. Anything on iCloud is backed up, protected, and available for you to access online.
You can (and probably do) use it to sync the following things:
- Contacts
- Calendars
- Notes
- Reminders
- Photos
- Documents
- And more…
With iCloud turned on, your devices automatically update this data whenever they’re online.
Add a note on your iPhone and it appears on your iPad. Edit a calendar event from your MacBook and it changes on your Apple Watch. It’s like magic.
So what’s the difference between that and iCloud Drive?
What is iCloud Drive?
iCloud Drive is a part of iCloud. It’s one of many services under the iCloud umbrella, like Backups, Photos, or the Find My app. You can use iCloud Drive to store all your other documents.
A user on Apple’s discussion boards gave this great analogy for the difference between iCloud and iCloud Drive:
Think of iCloud as a filing cabinet and iCloud drive as one of the cabinet’s drawers you can use to store things. It is designed to store files that don’t fit in any of the other drawers.

So it’s a place for your Word documents, your PDFs, your screenshots, and anything else that isn’t already synced to iCloud. It works the same as third-party online storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Do I need to use iCloud Drive?
You don’t need to use iCloud Drive, it’s an optional feature like all of iCloud’s services. When it’s turned off, all your documents are stored locally on the device. Which means they’re always available, even without an Internet connection.
Is iCloud Drive free to use?
When you sign up for an Apple ID account you get 5GB of free online storage. If that’s enough space for everything you want to keep in iCloud and iCloud Drive, you don’t need to pay for anything else.
For most people, 5GB isn’t enough space. That’s because all your iCloud services use it: Backups, Photos, Drive, and all the rest.
When you run out of iCloud storage, you can buy more from Apple. At the time of writing, Apple offers these three paid storage subscriptions:
- 50GB for $0.99/month
- 200GB for $2.99/month
- 2TB for $9.99/month

How do I turn on iCloud Drive?
Before you turn on iCloud Drive Apple advises that you update all your devices to the latest Operating Software. You also need to ensure you’re signed in with the same Apple ID account on each device — otherwise, your devices won’t sync with one another.
Turn it on from every device you want to access your documents from.
How to turn on iCloud Drive for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud.
- Scroll down and turn on iCloud Drive.

How to turn on iCloud Drive for a Windows PC:
- Download, install, and open iCloud for Windows.
- Sign in using your Apple ID details.
- Check the box next to iCloud Drive.

How to turn on iCloud Drive for a Mac:
- Go to > System Preferences… > Apple ID (for macOS Mojave and below, in System Preferences, click iCloud.)
- Check the box next to iCloud Drive, if not already ticked.
All your iCloud settings are available from System Preferences in macOS. - Click the iCloud Drive Options… button.
- Turn on Desktop & Documents Folders to store those folders in iCloud Drive.
- Tick anything else you want to store documents and data in iCloud.
- For macOS Mojave and below, turn on Optimize Storage to create more free space on your Mac. For macOS Catalina+, find Optimize Storage on the main page for your Apple ID.
Turn on Optimize Storage from the Apple ID page in System Preferences.
- Turn on Desktop & Documents Folders to store those folders in iCloud Drive.
What is the Desktop & Documents Folders option?
This option moves all the content from the Desktop and Documents folders on your Mac to iCloud Drive. As you make changes to your Mac documents, they are automatically synced and uploaded.
The Desktop & Documents Folders option makes all your Mac documents available to other devices using iCloud Drive. When paired with Optimize Storage, it also creates a lot of free storage on your Mac.
Learn more about iCloud’s Desktop & Documents sync and storage features in this article: How to Stop iCloud From Syncing Desktop Folders and Documents
What is the Optimize Storage option?
Optimize Storage removes old documents from your Mac if they’re also stored on iCloud Drive. You can still see a preview of all your documents and download them again with a click. But they don’t use any hard drive space.
New or recently used documents are automatically kept downloaded, to make them instantly available to you. Otherwise, you need an Internet connection to open documents again, and there may be a delay while waiting for it to download.
Does iCloud Drive use storage on my device?

iCloud Drive itself doesn’t use any storage on your device, it’s an online service. You can see previews of all the content stored online from your device, but it doesn’t use any storage until you download or open a document.
When you access iCloud Drive, you see Download icons next to each document or folder. Tap that button to download it to your device, making it available offline and instantly.
If there is no download icon, that document is already downloaded and using your device storage. Your device automatically removes old downloads when you start to run out of local storage.

Why does iCloud Drive store files on my on my local drive?
Locally stored documents open faster and are available offline. Your device might download documents you recently used on another device to anticipate you needing them again soon.
It may also download iCloud Drive documents to fill unused storage on your device. The benefit of this is that those documents become instantly available to you, online or offline.
Finally, documents are stored on your local drive when they haven’t uploaded to iCloud Drive yet. This might take longer for larger files or if your Internet connection is slow.
How do I access my files on iCloud Drive?
When you use iCloud Drive, your documents are available from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Windows PC. You can use the Files app, Finder, File Explorer, or visit the iCloud website from any Internet browser.
You need to have turned on iCloud Drive, using the instructions above, before you can access your documents.
How to access iCloud Drive using the iCloud website:
- Visit iCloud’s website from any secure Internet browser.
- Sign in with your Apple ID details.
- Click the iCloud Drive button.
- Make sure you sign out again when using public computers.

How to access iCloud Drive on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Download and open Files from the App Store.
- Tap Browse at the bottom of the screen.
- Go to Locations > iCloud Drive.

How to access iCloud Drive on a Mac:
- Open a new Finder window.
- In the sidebar, under iCloud, click iCloud Drive.
- If you don’t see an iCloud Drive option:
- From the menu bar, go to Finder > Preferences…
- Click the Sidebar tab.
- Check the box for iCloud Drive.

How to access iCloud Drive on a Windows PC:
- Open a window in File Explorer.
- Under Quick Access in the sidebar, click iCloud Drive.

How do I manage files in iCloud Drive?
It’s easy to rename, move, or delete documents in iCloud Drive using any device. Whatever changes you make on one device are automatically synced to the others.
When you delete an iCloud Drive document, it stays in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days.
How to manage iCloud Drive documents using the iCloud website:
- Select a document or folder and click the i button to rename it.
- Use the New Folder button at the top of the window to create new folders.
- Click and drag a document or folder to move it, drop it into the file path at the bottom of the window to move it to a parent folder.
- Select a document or folder and click the Trash Can button to delete it, the Recently Deleted folder is available at the bottom right of the window.

How to manage iCloud Drive files using the Files app:
- Tap the name of a document or folder to rename it.
- Use the New Folder button in the top left to create new folders.
- Tap Select and highlight a document or folder to see more actions:
- Use the Folder icon to move it.
- Use the Two Squares button to copy it.
- Or use the Trash Can button to delete it, the Recently Deleted folder is available from the Locations screen.
- Alternatively, tap and hold a document or folder to see a list of actions.

How to manage iCloud Drive files using a Mac or PC:
Rename, copy, move, or delete documents and folders as you normally would on a Mac or PC. Use keyboard commands or control-click a document or folder to see a list of actions.

You can share a link for others to access your documents on iCloud Drive. Select the file you want to share, then use the Add Person icon to see the share options. In the files app, you need to tap the Share button first.
Check your Share Options to decide who can access the document and if they have permission to make changes. When you only share a document with specific contacts, they need an Apple ID account to view it.
Make a document you previously shared privately by viewing the Share Options again.

How do I save documents to iCloud Drive?
Use Finder, File Explorer, or the Files app to move existing documents to iCloud Drive. After they upload, you can access them from all your iCloud Drive devices.
Certain apps may automatically save files to application folders in iCloud Drive. This is common with Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Preview. But is also possible with many others.
Transfer files from a different cloud storage service
You can transfer files to iCloud Drive from third-party cloud services, like Dropbox or Google Drive. To do so, copy or move the files to iCloud Drive as you normally would using Finder, File Explorer, or the Files app.
On iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch you need to download the third-party app and sign in before it becomes visible in Files. After you’ve done this, you can access and manage all your cloud services from a single app.

Transfer files from an external hard drive
Upload files directly from an external hard drive using the iCloud website. From the iCloud Drive page, you see an upload button at the top of the window. This only allows you to upload a single file at a time.
It isn’t possible to transfer multiple files, or even folders, to iCloud Drive without first storing them on your computer. If you have a Mac, create more free storage using the Optimize Storage feature for iCloud Drive.
Otherwise, consider uploading compressed zip files. Although they must be under 50GB in size and you can’t open them within iCloud Drive.
Backing up to iCloud Drive
Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch iCloud Backup doesn’t save to iCloud Drive, although it does use the same iCloud storage. iCloud Backups store to a separate part of iCloud, although the entire service is secure and protected.
That means all your files and folders in iCloud Drive should be safe. If you want to keep a second copy of something, iCloud Drive is a good place to put it.
But always remember:
Two is one and one is none.
If something is very important to you, don’t only keep it on iCloud Drive. Make sure you’ve archived it in multiple places! Back up those iCloud Drive files on a local hard drive so you’ve always got a spare copy in case something goes wrong.
To make a backup of your iCloud Drive documents, download and copy them to a local drive or a second cloud service.
How do I turn off iCloud Drive?
Turning off iCloud Drive doesn’t delete your documents from iCloud. But it does make it so your device can’t access them anymore.
If you want to turn off iCloud Drive because you ran out of iCloud Storage, you need to archive and delete your iCloud Drive documents instead. Archive your documents by downloading them to your device and moving them out of the iCloud Drive folder.
Mac users get the option to Keep a Copy of their entire iCloud Drive contents when they turn off the service. If you choose to do this, everything downloads to an archive folder on your Mac.

Once you’ve downloaded your iCloud Drive documents, delete them using Finder, File Explorer, Files or the iCloud website. Remember, your documents stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days after deletion.
How to turn off iCloud Drive on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Use Files to move irreplaceable documents to the On My [Device] location.
- Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud.
- Scroll down and turn off iCloud Drive.
How to turn off iCloud Drive on a Mac:
- Go to > System Preferences… > Apple ID (or for older macOS iCloud.)
- Uncheck the box next to iCloud Drive.
- Choose if you want to Keep a Copy of your iCloud Drive documents.
How to turn off iCloud Drive on a Windows PC:
- Use File Explorer to move irreplaceable documents to your PC hard drive.
- Open iCloud for Windows.
- Uncheck the box next to iCloud Drive.
FAQs
As you can imagine, iCloud Drive is a broad topic and many get confused by the differences between it and iCloud. To ease matters, we’ve put together the most common iCloud Drive questions from the web and given you our answers below.
Where is iCloud Drive on my iPhone?
There used to be an iCloud Drive app for iPhones, iPads, and iPods. This was your window to everything on iCloud Drive, but Apple replaced it with Files in the release of iOS 11.
The Files app offers more functionality than iCloud Drive used to. In particular, with Files, you can sync all your cloud storage services in one place: Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive, and others!
Why can’t I see my documents in iCloud Drive?
If you can’t see anything in iCloud Drive, there might be something wrong with your settings. Follow our steps above to make sure you turned on iCloud Drive for all your devices. Also, ensure you’re signed in with the same Apple ID details.
Visit the iCloud website. Sign in and click iCloud Drive. If you still can’t find your files, contact Apple Support for more help.
Do iCloud Backups and iCloud Drive use the same storage?
Yes. When your devices back up to iCloud, they eat into the same storage capacity used for iCloud Drive. This is also the same storage used for iCloud Photos and everything else on iCloud.
Are you starting to see why you keep running out of iCloud storage? You can make more space for the iCloud services you want to use by deleting content from all the others.
That might mean deleting backups for old devices you don’t have anymore. It might mean pruning your iCloud Photos collection. Or it might mean deleting old documents from iCloud Drive.
Or, you can always buy more storage from Apple.
How do I recover deleted files on iCloud drive?
When you delete something on iCloud Drive, Apple keeps it in your Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. So if you accidentally deleted a document last week, it isn’t too late to get it back.
Find your Recently Deleted folder from the locations page of the Files app. Or on the iCloud website, find it in the bottom right of the screen.
Alternatively, view all your deleted iCloud content from the iCloud website:
- Sign in to the iCloud website using your Apple ID details.
- Click Settings.
- Under Advanced in the bottom left, click Restore Files.
- You can review or restore all your recently deleted data.

How do I sign out of iCloud Drive everywhere?
You don’t want to leave iCloud Drive signed in on a public computer. But sometimes you can’t get access to it again to sign out. Perhaps the library is closed or you gave your computer to a friend.
Fortunately, you can sign out of all browsers from the iCloud website. Log in with your Apple ID details and click the Settings button. At the bottom of the screen, click the option to Sign Out of All Browsers.
You can also remove a device from your Apple ID account. This stops it from accessing any payment or iCloud services again until you sign in.
You should have a clear picture of the difference between iCloud and iCloud Drive by now. Let us know any other questions you have and we’ll try our best to answer them. We might even add them to this FAQ.

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.
I’m on Sonoma 14.5 and there’s no longer an option for “keep a copy” when turning off “Desktop & Documents Folders” in the iCloud control panel. The message reads something like “all your documents and desktop files and folders will be deleted locally, but still available on iCloud.” I wonder why “keep a local copy” is no longer and option.
If I use iCloud Drive to synch documents across devices, are the documents available on each device when not connected to the internet?
If my iPhone is the only Apple product that I own, do I need iCloud Drive?
Hello
My son has no drive space left on his MacBook Pro. However upon review he has something like 128GB of space used for “iCloud Drive”.
What we need to do is:
– Remove iCloud Drive from his local drive… AND
– Ensure that by doing so, it doesn’t delete from iCloud itself
The point to this exercise is to reclaim the much needed disk space on his local drive so that he has space to install the latest Mac OS.
Can you please advise how this can be done? He absolutely CANNOT lose his data saved to the iCloud.
Thank you,
Vince Wiseman
I just want to read the replies to existing comments.
I accidentally got hooked into agreeing to send all my info to iCloud and iDrive which I definitely didn’t want. Now I’m afraid if I turn them off, I will lose everything. I think it is reprehensible that there wasn’t and “are you sure you want to do this” because all I saw on the preferences screen was the OK button. I tried for half an hour to delete, go back, cancel, get out and couldn’t. I was held hostage, and now my photos etc… are on some drive I never wanted them to be on and I’m being told I need to pay for more storage. I’m livid. This is what happens to someone new who is trying to figure out how to navigate a window that pops up out of no where.
I want to give my iMac to my husband for music and only use my MacBook Air. Both are connected to the cloud but both also have their own system documents folders. How can I transfer all my iMac documents to my MacBook Air. Also after this is accomplished. How can I wipe my iMac of documents only, retaining the software and transfer the machine to my husband? Thank you.
I’m currently paying for 2 TB of iCloud storage on my phone. If I upgrade to iCloud Drive, does that space come out of my 2TB or do I have to pay separately for iCloud Drive ? Thanks!
Great user guide / info. Vet well structured and very well defined functionality
I still can’t find the answer I need!
I have plenty of storage available on my Mac & DON’T want to use iCloud .
I can’t understand how to just store photos & documents ONLY on my Mac?
I don’t need to keep paying Apple for monthly storage on iCloud & environmentally the cloud is a huge global user of resources
From what I understand, if I turn off iCloud Drive from my iCloud, that means my Mac won’t automatically save things to the iCloud Drive and I won’t be able to download from there either. If I delete documents on my Mac that were previously on iCloud Drive and then turn on iCloud Drive again, will the documents be deleted from my Mac, iCloud and all other devices that are attached to the apple account as it updates from being turned on again?
This could also apply to photos storage?
Hey! Just want to thank you!! The toggle multiple times & changing the photo to downloading originals did it! Finally getting the pictures download! I’ve been holding on to my old phone 2 weeks & was thinking of reinstalling the whole thing all over again, but you really saved me so much time/headache!! cannot thank you enough!!
My wife and I both have the Apple iPhone 11 that we both are paying for extra storage for the cloud usage. We also have a MacBook Air that’s at 4.8 0f the free 5 GB’s. My question is why doesn’t the phones sync with the Mac to give us the storage for the cloud on the Mac?
I have set up a shared folder and sent it via email to others using the “add people” feature. For some though, they cannot access the folder since they receive the message “Turn on iCloud Drive”. Yet, when they go to their settings, iCloud Drive switch is already toggled to “on”. Any advice or tips?
Hi – thank you for this article.
I have had so many issues backing up my photos to icloud. I have completed over 3 backups, but my icloud is missing photos from dec 2017 – may 2019. Everything else is stored correctly but for some reason, photos during this perod won’t backup no matter what I’ve tried.
Instead, I have saved all photos during this period to iCloud Drive. I can now see these photos on my PC and when I login to icloud.com.
If I get a new iphone and backup my data, will my photos still be stored securely in the icloud drive? Thank you
Hi there,
Thank you so much for this post. I unfortunately am still highly confused with this process.
here is my question and I’m REALLY hoping you can help me with it.
On dropbox there is an option where when you right click on the file it will ask you if you would like it to be stored locally on your machine or only online.
I can’t seem to find anything like this on my icloud drive. I would basically like to throw all the files I am not currently using, but thats taking up space on my harddrive into icloud drive. My question is, does it remove the files automatically from my local drive and keep a copy on the cloud after a period of time, or is there a way like in dropbox, where I can set it that once I’ve put it into the icloud drive folder, it immediately uploads it to icloud and removes the file from my local drive and just leaves that “cloud with the little down arrow” next to it so that I know what i need to redownload to use it. And then once again allow me to throw it back onto the cloud once I’m done with it and remove it from my local drive?
I hope this makes sense and in some way is possible, because I don’t need ALL the information I have stored locally all the time, but i do need access to it at random times and I would much rather prefer not lugging external harddrives around when I can easily access it from the cloud. But i also need to be able to throw it back onto the cloud immediately without it clogging up my local drive.
Please could you help me with this. I would greatly appreciate it.
Hi Tristan,
We agree iCloud Drive is wildly confusing!
Unfortunately, iCloud Drive does not offer the same option as DropBox to pick and choose which files are stored in the cloud and which are stored locally (as you describe)
Why can i edit documents in my icloud drive on my mac without downloading them locally. But on my ipad i have to download to edit then re upload? Surely you should be able to edit documents within the cloud?
In the Finder I have three items under “iCloud”. Those would be iCloud Drive, Documents, and Desktop. I am trying to find where my documents are stored on my local hard drive. In Locations I see my hard drive and I see a sub folder “iCloud Drive (Archive)”. I click on it and there is nothing. There is no documents folder showing under my hard drive location.
Different question. I have some home made videos (GoPro and drone videos) stored outside of my pictures folder (I have a “Videos” folder). How do I get that “Videos” folder to sync with iCloud.
Thanks for your help!
Phil
Hi Phil.
iCloud Drive stores all your documents in a folder inside your user library called Mobile Documents–but Apple recommends leaving this folder “as-is.” It is not intended to be used on a regular basis.
Regarding the empty iCloud Drive (Archive) folder, is it possible you previously cleaned this folder out? Or you might have turned iCloud Desktop & Documents off, chosen to Keep files, but then turned iCloud Desktop & Documents back on before iCloud started downloading those files to that folder…
If you keep backups of your Mac via Time Machine or another backup option, you can check those backups to see if that folder’s contents exist and then restore them.
Regarding the videos, to get those to Sync with iCloud you have a couple of options.
1) Copy (import) the videos into your Mac’s Photos app File > Import, As long as you enable Photos in iCloud settings on your devices, the videos should be available on all devices signed in with the same Apple ID
2) Create a folder in your iCloud Drive for your videos and copy the videos you want to that folder. To do this, use Finder and select iCloud Drive from the sidebar. Then right-click and choose New Folder. Rename the folder to videos (or whatever) and then drag/drop your videos into this folder. Once uploaded to iCloud, find these videos using the Files app for iOS and iPadOS or iCloud Drive for Mac and Windows.
Of course, make sure your iCloud Storage plan has sufficient space for all your videos before you start uploading.
Hope this answers your questions!
Liz
Hi,
Hope you can help.
I use a MacBook Air and have iCloud and iCloud drive switched on.
Periodically I receive messages that my disk is almost full.
Using DaisyDisk I can see that my iCloud Drive Archive is using 40GB of my disk space.
How can I stop iCloud drive from storing on my MacBook?
Many thanks for your advice,
Rick
Hi Rick,
That iCloud drive archive was likely created when at some point you deselected iCloud drive on your Mac and you choose to Keep a Copy of that data to your local drive on your home folder.
Since your iCloud drive is now switched on, the information stored in the archive may be redundant.
We suggest you either carefully review its contents and delete any files that are not needed OR offload this archive to an external drive for safekeeping and then delete it from your Mac.
Another suggestion for space savings is to turn on Optimize Storage on your Mac. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage.
Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.
Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment or saving the attachment to your Mac.
Don’t automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.
Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments don’t require iCloud storage space.
I am running the newest version of Catalina (10.15.4) on my MacBook Pro and the newest IOS on my phone and iPad.
Through an unfortunate and unintentional set of clicks I accidentally copied my entire picture file to the the desktop, 10k of pics. It took a while for me to figure out what was happening and then to try and stop it, pretty much to no avail.
Eventually it did stop, but not before it had uploaded the desktop to the cloud, days of uploading that I could not stop by killing bird or anything else.
Once all the back and forth file transfers were done and I could, once again, actually use the MacBook, I went about deleting all the duplicate files. As part of this I turned off Documents and Desktop on the iCloud Drive.
I have several backup copies of both the desktop and the documents file, so no worries about anything being lost. In fact, it is stored multiple times in multiple places including on a physically isolated HD.
Before this disaster I *thought* I had all my files stored on the MacBook HD and synced to the iCloud and all my other devices. This belief is reinforced by looking at the location string for files in apps like excel, etc. and they all point to the MacBook HD, not the cloud. They all were accessible from the Files App on the other devices.
Of course, now the Documents folder and Desktop folder are nowhere to be found on the HD. I am not allowed to add them back manually, I get a message that those file names are “already taken.” I tried turning off the documents and desktop on the iDrive as mentioned above and that put those two drives back on the HD.
But, I couldn’t figure out how to get the files back on the HD AND once again syncing to the iCloud, not the iCloud Drive. If I turn Documents and Desktop back on on the iCloud Drive those two folders disappear again from the HD. It’s quick when they are empty.
I’m pretty confused/frustrated. Things have worked seamlessly and been idiot proof (that being me) heretofore. Is there a simple way to put things back the way I think they were? I have plenty of HD room and iCloud room, I’d really like to have the contents of the Documents folder reside both places and sync so I’m always good to go with or without an internet connection and I can access files from any device.
Thanks for your help!
Addendum
I can now see that many of my files are still located on the HD in the Documents folder just as they have always been.
But, I can’t see that folder in Finder on the HD.
And, files in that folder do seem to be syncing with the Documents folder in the iCloud Drive.
Can I get the folder to reappear on the HD?
iCloud Drive for Documents and Desktop is currently checked.
Hi Gary,
Yes, it is confusing!
Essentially, you cannot have a Documents folder on both iCloud Drive AND on your user’s home folder. Your Mac only alllows one folder to be named Documents.
But what you can do is create an alias for your iCloud Documents folder and place that alias in your user’s home folder.
Here’s how:
1) Open the Finder app
2) Make sure you see Finder’s sidebar (if not choose the View Menu from the top and Show Sidebar)
3) In the sidebar, tap iCloud Drive to open it in Finder’s main window
4) Choose the Documents folder and right-click it then choose Make Alias
5) Open another Finder window
6) Choose your user’s home folder from the sidebar and open it
7) Drag the alias you just created for your iCloud Drive’s Documents folder into your user’s home folder
8) Rename the alias Documents Folder
Now, whenever you open your user’s home folder, you should get quick access to your Documents!
Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes:
Once you tick the box for iCloud to store your Mac’s Desktop & Documents Folders, your Desktop and Documents folders are automatically moved to your iCloud Drive and off your Mac’s hard drive.
In Finder, locate your Documents folder in the iCloud Drive section of Finder’s sidebar and under Favorites. Make these changes by opening Finder and selecting Finder Preferences for the sidebar.
You can move files out of your iCloud’s Documents folder so they are on your Mac’s HD. But when you move them out of iCloud Drive, they no longer sync with other devices and are only stored locally on your Mac.
To move a file to your Mac’s local drive, drag files from iCloud drive to another folder in the Finder sidebar like Downloads or Pictures. When you do this, macOS copies the files to your Mac and removes them from iCloud Drive on all your devices set up for iCloud.
When you turn off Desktop and Documents Folders, your files you already placed in iCloud remain there.
Them, macOS creates a new Desktop and Documents folder on your Mac inside your user’s home folder.
If you want to move the files from iCloud Drive to your Mac, select the files you want to move from your iCloud Drive and drag them to the Documents folder that’s inside your user’s home folder.
When you turn off iCloud Drive’s Desktop & Documents Folders, macOS gives you the option to keep a local copy of your files that are in iCloud Drive.
When you choose to keep a local copy, all the files in your iCloud Drive are copied to a folder called iCloud Drive (Archive) in your user’s home folder–they are NOT moved to your user’s Documents folder.
To move any files to your user’s Documents folder, you need to drag and drop them from that iCloud Drive Archive folder.
Elizabeth, thank you for your detailed response. I apologize for being so dense, but I’m still confused.
I seem to have files that are “working” as they used to, that is they live on the HD and sync to the cloud. But, they live in the nonexistent Documents folder on the HD.
Here are the location info for a file that seems to be living in two places that I copied from the document’s Properties after opening each location from the “Open Recents” drop down in Excel:
HD location:
/Users/gary*****/Documents/zzzGary/REI Tech Info/Analysis
Cloud location
/Users/gary*****/Library/Mobile Documents/com-apple-CloudDocs/Documents/zzzGary/REI Tech Info/Analysis
I cannot pull the HD copy from Finder, but, as indicated, it does come up under recents in excel. I can pull the file from either location and it is the same updated data, it has synced no matter which file I make the changes to.
It sure looks by the location info like these are two distinct files, one on the hd and one in the cloud.
If I do a search in Finder for the RLAV file on “This Mac Macintosh HD” it brings up the file and when I open it it has the HD string above.
This is not the only file that behaves this way, just an example.
Is this an alias file at work?
Thank you. Again, I apologize for being so dense.
Hi Gary,
It is indeed possible that your HD is just pointing to your iCloud Drive’s files.
To check, open your User (Gary) Documents folder: you listed this as
HD location:
/Users/gary*****/Documents/zzzGary/REI Tech Info/Analysis
With that folder open in Finder, go to the View menu at the top and select Show Path Bar.
Then look at the bottom of that Finder window and see what the path is. If it’s pointing to the files on iCloud, you should see something like iCloud Drive > Documents > (and then the list of subfolders)
Hi Elizabeth,
The path listed below for the file on the HD *only* shows when I pull up the file under “Open Recents” in Excel.
The Documents folder does not show up on the HD in Finder.
I can retrieve the file from the Recents in Excel, modify it, save it and then go the the same file in the iCloud and the modified version is there.
I can also retrieve the file in Finder by going to the iCloud/Documents etc. and pull the file down there. When I save that file and then go back to the Recents in Excel the path it shows is the HD path not the iCloud path I pulled the file from and saved it to.
It looks like the Documents folder is on the HD, that it doesn’t show up in Finder, but otherwise operates as if it was there normally.
Hi Gary,
It really sounds like Excel recents is indeed pulling from your iCloud Drive, even if the path it lists is different.
Hi, great article! I do have a question.
I have an iCloud Drive/iCloud file that I put for my artwork photo. I need more rooms on my phone photo.
If I delete my phone photos will my photo on the file through iCloud stay?
Or will it be both delate on both phone and iCloud? Thank you so much
Hi Andieve,
If you turned on Photos in your iPhone’s settings at Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos > ON, then when you delete a photo from your iPhone, it also deletes from iCloud.
To get around this, select any photos you want to remove from your iPhone and save them to the Files app for safekeeping.
To do this, open the Photos app and select a photo album.
Tap the Select button and choose all the photos you want to save for safekeeping.
Once you select all those photos, tap the Share button and scroll down to Save to Files.
Choose iCloud Drive and either use a current folder or create a new folder, then save those photos there.
Then repeat this process for photos in other albums in your Photos app
Once you save all the photos you want for safekeeping, open the Files app and verify they are there
Once verified, run a test and delete just a few photos from your iPhone, then wait 30 minutes or so and check that they are still in your Files app
After you verify that the Files app is safekeeping those photos, delete the photos you want from your iPhone to open up space
If you don’t have a lot of iCloud Storage space, choose a different cloud storage option like Dropbox or Google Drive (you may need to set this up first)
Alternatively, you could save your Photos to Google Photos or Amazon Photos (for Amazon Prime members) and then delete them from your iPhone.
Thank you for providing so much helpful information!
I have a question. I setup ICloud about 6 months ago, and it synced between my iPhone and MacBook, where I had about 600 notes sync in the Notes App.
At some point, both devices stopped uploading files to iCloud, but I could still adjust the versions of the ICloud notes that were on each device. E.g. Two different versions of my shopping list – one on my IPhone and one on my MacBook. Neither would effect the files on the other. I imagine this must be adjusting the ICloud notes stored locally until they are connected to ICloud and thus can be uploaded or updated).
I tried to fix the syncing issue by unchecking and rechecking the “Notes” category in Preferences > ICloud. This removed all of the notes from my computer – all 1,500 – and when re-checking, replaced them with the 600 that were originally synced from 6 months ago. This was a very large data loss, and I am currently grieving.
I am trying to utilize data recovery software to obtain those notes. Do you know where it is stored locally on the MacBook? I looked under ~>Library>Mobile Documents, and this is empty. And hidden files are displayed.
Hi Cory,
First, check your Notes app Recently Deleted folder–just in case some or all of your missing notes are there.
Notes are locally stored in the following locations:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes
~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes
If you backup via Time Machine, you could likely recover those missing notes from a backup that was made BEFORE those 1500 notes went missing.
Go to those folders, move the current folders to a different location (like a separate folder on your desktop) and then use Time Machine to restore the previous versions.
Just be sure to toggle off Notes in iCloud before doing the recovery procedure OR temporarily disconnect your Mac from the internet so iCloud cannot sync.
It’s possible that the Notes app was not syncing properly due to a lack of storage–check your iCloud storage plan to ensure there is sufficient space to sync all your iCloud services.
We have several mac computers and two iPhones. I don’t know how it got set up this way, but I’m trying to UNMERGE my icloud drive from my husbands. My folders show up when he logs in to his icloud account, and I cannot figure out how to unmerge the drive.
Hope you can help me. Thanks in advance.
PG
Thank you for providing such a useful information to educate us about iCloud.
For your information, I have bought a new iPad about 8 months ago and been using the same ID i use for my old iPad to operate my new iPad.
Today i finally thought to learn more about iCloud because my wife wanted the old iPad.
So before I factory reset the old iPad, i thought to checked if there is any important old files especially those that was uploaded to iCloud if it has synced properly to my new iPad.
Eventually i realised the job is tougher than I thought.
I did not know that there is a difference between iCloud backups and iCloud drive.
Thanks to your information above that i finally understood about iCloud drive, however i have more questions about iCloud backups.
What file does iCloud backups consist of?
Do backups from my old iPad sync to my new iPad?
If yes, why is it showing different backup size?
What happen if i delete backups on my old devices? Does it affect any of my files in new iPad?
Please advise. Thank you
Hi Stanley,
Congratulations on the new iPad and for setting up the old iPad the right way for your wife! It’s important to ensure that your wife uses a different Apple ID.
Regarding iCloud backups, these backups include all data and settings stored on your device that is not already stored in iCloud. Things like:
App data and device settings (like accessibility features you turned on)
Your Home Screen layout and how you organize your apps (such as app folders)
Purchase history for Apple services, music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
Any added ringtones (purchased or custom made)
Apple Watch backups if you pair with an Apple Watch
Visual Voicemail password
iMessages and SMS texts if you didn’t enable Messages in iCloud
Photos, but only if you don’t enable iCloud photos
Your new iPad creates its own backups, so it does not backup to the name of your old iPad.
Yes, you can delete old iCloud backups and deleting those does not impact your current device.
To delete a backup,
Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.
Tap the name of a device whose backup you don’t need, then tap Delete Backup.
Before you delete the backup for your old iPad, make sure your wife makes a backup on that iPad, under her Apple ID. It’s also a good idea to change the name of that older iPad so it is different from the name you had for it. Go to Settings > General > About > Name to do that.
If you happen to delete an iCloud backup for a device that you currently use, once you delete that iCloud backup, iCloud stops automatically backing up the device. So you need to turn that setting back on in your iCloud settings.
Hope that helps. If you have additional questions please let us know.
Liz
Using: iMac, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, iPhone.
I decided to use the option of Desktop and Documents Folders under iCloud Drive which is under iCloud in Preferences. It is going to take 5 days to complete the move.
My question #1:
Under “iCloud” in the sidebar on the iMac I see – iCloud Drive, Documents, and Desktop.
When I click on “iCloud Drive” I see the same two folders with the same content.
What is going on here?
Have I done something wrong?
Am I duplicating things?
My question #2
On the MacBook Air the available space is decreasing a small amount.
Is that related to the iCloud manipulation on the iMac?
Hi Al,
For question #1:
No, you aren’t doing anything wrong–that information is correct. When you open the Finder app, go to the top menu and choose the View option. Under that choose the option to Show Path Bar. Close that Finder window and open a new one. Now, when you choose either the Desktop or Documents folder in the Finder’s Sidebar, you should see the folder path is listed as iCloud Drive > Desktop (or Documents.) So there are not two copies–it’s the exact same folder just listed in multiple places in the Finder app.
The reason you find both Desktop and Documents as separate options from iCloud Drive is for convenience–so people can locate them quickly.
On to question #2:
If you use the same Apple ID on your MacBook Air as you do on your iMac, enabled your iCloud Drive storage setting to optimize mac storage, AND also check marked the Desktop and Documents folders option in iCloud Drive, you will see a small reduction in storage space as macOS stores those items to iCloud.
macOS does store a local copy of your iCloud Drive desktop and documents folders in your user library at ~/Library/Mobile Documents/ and for that reason, the storage savings is not great when using iCloud Desktop and Documents folders.
Thank you Elizabeth.
Your answer to question #1 is very helpful.
I am not clear about question #2
I moved Desktop & Documents to iCloud on my iMac.
On the MacBook Air the available space went from about 40 GB to 4.07 GB
What is this iCloud move on the iMac doing to the MacBook Air?
Right now the Mobile Documents Info upper fight hand corner for the iMac shows 7.17 GB, for the MacBook Air it shows 103.08 GB! (The info as to machine is correct.)
Hi Al,
Do you also have iCloud Desktop & Documents enabled on your MacBook? When enabled, it should mirror what is on your iMac and on iCloud.
103.8 GB sounds really high–so dig deeper into the folder and see what files are taking up all that space. Consider moving any large files out of there to an external drive or if the file is no longer needed, deleting it.
Just make sure you don’t need any file you delete–it will be removed from all your devices.
Thanks for your patience.
The iCloud “Desktop & Documents”item is not enabled on the MacBook.
I cannot see the contents of the Mobile Documents folder. When I click on it, I get a picture of a generic folder which cannot be opened.
I have removed a large number of files from the Documents folder on the iMac.
The iMac “Mobile Documents” folder is now 7.19 GB
The macBook “Mobile Documents” folder is now reduced to 76.93 GB
How does one see the contents of these ~/Library/Mobile Documents folders?
Failing that, what is stored there?
Hi Al,
Oh my goodness, what a challenge!
You should be able to see the contents of that folder if you are logged in as an admin user. Can you verify that your user account is an admin by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups and verifying that your current account is an admin.
If not, try changing your user account to an admin:
Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups
Click the lock icon and unlock it with an admin name and password
Select your standard user account and choose Allow user to administer this computer
See if that makes a difference in accessing the contents of that Mobile Documents folder (if applicable)
If not, you can use Terminal to view what’s in that folder:
1) Open Terminal (Application > Utilities)
2) Type the command ls -R /Users/(yourusername)/Library/Mobile\ Documents (make sure you put a space betweeen \ and Documents)
3) This then lists out all the files within that folder, including any subfolders (it’s called a recursive listing of files in a specific folder). This list will not be organized and might be very long–but it does show everything in that folder. Look for any files that look strange–with strings of numbers, letters, or a combination of both–these are likely cache files (that you don’t need)
If you see a bunch of files that look like cache files or you don’t recognize the contained files, the recommended approach is to temporarily enable iCloud Desktop and Documents to sync that folder and clear about the junk. It’s critical that you do not delete or move that folder!
If nothing here worked, it may indicate something bigger, so please reach out to Apple Support and ask for a senior technician to assist you. Or set-up an appointment with your local Apple Store Genius–these appointments are always free (though the repairs are not unless covered under an Apple Care warranty.)
Keep us posted. Hope something here helps 🙂
Liz
I have noticed 2 copies of iCloud Drive v1 on my system. Is this a problem – should I delete one of them?
Hi Johric,
Don’t delete anything just yet. Please give us some more information:
1) Is this a Windows or Mac computer?
2) What operating system does the computer use (i.e. macOS Catalina, Windows 10, etc)
3) Where are you seeing the two copies–in the same folder or location or different?
Hi
We have recently set up iCloud Drive. My husband and I have individual apple IDs and his is Family Sharing with me. Photos is working across all our devices but on my new IpadAir I can’t access any documents in the drive. I have enabled it in Settings. Any tips?
Many thanks
Claire
Hi Claire,
With a family sharing plan, you share things like iCloud storage, songs, albums, movies, TV shows, books, and apps purchased by family members. And a shared album is created in the Photos app on all family members’ devices. And you can even have a shared family account for Apple Music, the new Apple TV+, or Apple Arcade.
One thing that is not shared are files on each person’s iCloud Drive (Files App)–these are tied to each Apple ID and are considered private files, not to be shared with family members by default.
Your iCloud Drive should sync all your devices with the same files in the Files app–but any files that are on your husband’s iCloud Drive are not synced to your devices–since they have different Apple IDs.
Yes, it is confusing!
To get access to any files on your husband’s iCloud Drive, he needs to share them with you.
To do so,
For iPhones and iPads
Open the Files app. Touch and hold the file that you want to share. Tap the Share button, then tap Add People.
For Macs.
In the Finder app on your Mac, select iCloud Drive, select a document, click the Share button, then choose Add People.
THank you so much this is really helpful! Annoying though as we thought we would have easy access via the Drive and I use and create most of the home files but have been doing it on devices that used his Apple ID!
Having read this I believed it was extremely informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this content together. I once again find myself personally spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worth it!
Great article, very succinct on a potential long topic.
Quick question, I am considering moving my dropbox account to my iCloud drive (iCD) account for consolidation but as I planning for it and moving to Catalina I noticed my iMac has 35 gig of space being consumed by my iCD.
I don’t store anything on my hard drive, it’s all in the cloud with a back-up for redundancy to an external hard drive.
Any ideas how I have a copy of my iCloud Drive on my iMac and how to get rid of it… Thanks in advance
Excellently presented, thank you for making a confusing topic so simple and easy to apprehend. Once again, many thanks
Thanks for an informative article, I was looking for an answer to a specific question;
I have an iPad Pro and rarely use my MacBook Air, I would like to remove my MacBook from my account altogether.
Will all my iCloud files and docs remain the same and accessible through my iPad and iPhone?
Hi Vanessa,
As long as you turn off iCloud on your Mac first and then delete them, the documents remain on iCloud.
When you attempt to delete a file that’s shared via iCloud on your Mac, you should see a message letting you know it will delete everywhere–that’s why you don’t want to delete any file individually.
Instead, first, disable iCloud Drive on your MacBook and then delete your files from the Mac or erase your MacBook.
To turn off iCloud, go to System Preferences > iCloud> and untick all the boxes for iCloud.
What other files can I move OFF my iMac to save space there. Move to icloud not icloud drive
Hi Victor,
The best way to conserve space on a Mac is by moving your user documents and files to an external hard drive if you don’t want to use iCloud Drive or a similar cloud solution like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive.
If you use iCloud and macOS Sierra or above, you can also set some parameters on your Mac with macOS storage optimization tools to automatically offload files to iCloud when you reach a storage limit on your Mac.
To do this, go to the Apple Menu () at the top-left of your screen and choose About this Mac. Select Storage and tap Manage next to your iMac’s storage graph. This opens up options and recommendations for freeing up space on your iMac.
Don’t forget to empty the trash after performing any recommended steps!
If you go this route, you likely need to purchase a paid iCloud plan from Apple to increase your iCloud storage limit to 50GB, 200GB, or even 2TB–plans start at just 99 cents (USD) per month and go up to $9.99 USD per month for 2 TB.
Hi,
Still slightly confused.
I have an icloud photos folder in Explorer with the iCloud logo and then in my c drive a folder called iCloud photos which has 29gb worth of photos.
I have a windows tablet which whilst is good only has 120gb on it and I am in the red zone for space.
How do I safely delete the photos off the tablet (windows 10) without removing those photos from my icloud storage itself which I can access on my iPhone, iPad and Windows 10 laptop which has plenty of space?
thanks
Trish
Hi Trish,
Since you have multiple devices connected to iCloud, when you delete photos and videos from your PC, they won’t delete in iCloud Photos or from your other devices. This is not true for Macs or your Apple devices–when you delete a photo or video from an Apple device, it does delete those videos/photos across all your connected devices.
Just to be sure, we recommend you run a test with your Windows laptop.
Identify or take 4-6 pictures that you don’t care if they get deleted across iCloud–then delete those from the Windows PC only. Make sure your other devices connect to WiFi/internet and then wait a few days to allow the syncing process to take place across all those devices.
Then check the other devices–if those photos aren’t missing from them, you are good to go.
If the photos are missing–and iCloud did indeed sync across your Apple and Windows devices, then first turn off iCloud Photo Library on your Windows laptop AND then delete the photos. That way, they will not sync anymore.
Since space is at a premium on your laptop, you may want to toggle off iCloud Photo Library altogether.
Hope this helps clarify–and yes, it is super confusing!
Liz
Ok thanks – so I had to upgrade my windows version and icloud version as it was having a fit and so to save space, I ended up logging into icloud and going to photos and disabled them. I am not fussed about syncing to the windows 10 tablet because i can always log onto icloud via a browser and download the odd photo I need.
So now if in explorer I click on icloud photos it says it is disabled, I do still have some odd files under my icloud drive. But if I go to my pictures directory there is a folder there called icloud photos and when I open that it says downloads, shared and uploads. So is it ok to safely now delete that folder called downloads. I can always copy the images to a usb drive, but the folder has 29 gb’s in it and my poor little hard disk could use having that space back.
thanks again
Trish
Hi Trish,
Yes, you should have no problems deleting the iCloud photos on your Windows laptop. We suggest you leave the folder structure–but delete the contents instead.
Again, the safest and surest way is to run a test by deleting a few photos from the downloads folder and then checking your other Apple devices to see if those photos remain on them (and in iCloud’s website.)
Hope everything goes smoothly!
Liz
thanks very much for your help. Will give it a go.
Trish
iCloud is generally good, but Apple should make things more distinct.
For example, renaming the iCloud to iCloud Services and implementing separate logins for Services and Drive.
When I activated iCloud Drive on my iPhone then pictures, passwords, etc were uploaded to iCloud because option switches are available AFTER you enable the iCloud Drive.
Implementing different (clear) names and logins would clear up the mess.
Thank you, Apple.
I have a personal phone and a work phone.
My iCloud photos are saved in the cloud under my workplace Apple ID.
I currently have access to the photos on both phones.
My work email address is going to be deactivated in 5 weeks.
How do I switch my iCloud photos over to my personal account/email address so I still have access to them?
Hi Tim,
The easiest way to transfer all your photos over to your personal Apple ID is via a Mac Photos App–first, download all your photos from the work phone and then upload them to your personal phone.
You can do this on a Windows PC using iTunes and iCloud but it’s a lot more complicated.
You could also simply create a shared photo album in your work iPhone’s Photos App and then share it with your personal Apple ID and then download those photos to your personal iPhone:
In the Photos app, tap Albums at the bottom of the screen, then tap Shared Albums (if listed–if not, tap the Plus Sign in the Upper-Left and choose New Shared Album)
Enter a name for your Shared Album like work and tap Next
Enter in the email associated with your personal Apple ID and tap Create
Add in the photos you want on your personal Apple ID
You should get a notice on your personal iPhone that your work Apple ID wants to share an album with you, accept this and then download those photos to your device or your computer.
Another option, depending on how many photos you have, is to sign into your Apple ID account via a web browser and download the photos from there.
Sam
I have just enabled iCloud Drive, checking only “Desktop” and “Documents” – not “Safari” or “Photos” or a thousand other things. Now my desktop has been rearranged, many of my aliases (alia?) don’t work, and about half of my folders are empty.
This is on my iMac, I haven’t dared look on my iPhone. Example: Desktop > Folder ‘Gilding SetUp’ > Folder ‘TonedLetters’ > nothing. There should be a series of jpegs showing my gilded letters with glazes over them. WHERE ARE THEY?
My iCloud
My iCloud lackd Ned hallp
Hi good day..
I want to ask how to on or set-up Icloud because until now my Icloud is off. I want to on this but I don’t know how to on it… and everytime I on it they always telling “the maximum number of your free account have been activated on this iPhone”
How do I transfer photos from gallery to iCloud Drive on my iPad
Hi Josee,
Great question! With ios10, its easy as 1-2-3. First, open your photos app on ipad, then select albums at screen bottom and under My Albums should be an alnum named your icloud drive. Select this. Next, choose edit from upper right and finally add from upper left of the top menu bar. Now add any photos you desire from your gallery.
Have fun! Jusr make sure you have sufficient space on your icloud account or upgrade your plan.
Good luck and happy photoing,
Liz