

Enable Desktop & Documents Folders in iCloud Drive IDGĬheck Optimize Mac Storage to have macOS automatically remove local copies of files. If you try to open that file, macOS quietly retrieves it from your iCloud account to make it available.


If it’s selected, macOS removes the least-accessed files from your local synced copy of iCloud Drive as your computer’s available storage drops these files remain available in your online iCloud storage.Ī sort of shadow version remains available on your desktop, so you can see the file and search against it. In the Apple ID preference pane’s iCloud view (Catalina) or the iCloud preference pane (Mojave and earlier), there’s a checkbox marked Optimized Mac Storage. Photos and videos are downloaded on demand as you view or use them. After those are copied to iCloud storage, Photos can optionally delete any local version and just show a thumbnail.įor a large Photos library, this can restore nearly all the space occupied by the library. However, if you’re turning it on for the first time, Photos will upload all locally stored images. If iCloud Photos was already enabled, macOS will only for sure retain thumbnails of images and videos. Check the iCloud Photos box and then select Optimize Mac Storage. In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences > iCloud. Here’s a strategy for migration, if you’re comfortable with many of your files having the only copy living in iCloud.
Duplicate photos mac icloud automatically upgrade#
In the US, you can upgrade iCloud storage from the included 5GB to 200GB for $2.99 per month and 2TB for $9.99 per month. ICloud is a solution for offloading on-device storage and offers a kind of loose backup of that material, too. Apple still offers laptops with 256GB SSDs, and that seems a little snug if you have digital downloads or ripped music and take even a modest amount of photos and videos. That might be to reduce the overall expense or to spend your budget on more RAM or a faster processor. Because of the relatively high cost of SSD storage, when buying a new Mac you might choose to pick a smaller-capacity drive than in a Mac you’re replacing.
