iCloud Desktop Sync is Pretty Stupid

[Hanzu Lao]

I personally keep it on, but it's not a smart solution. You can have same thing setup with few of cloud storage services that let you pick specific folders and scan them for change and then upload.

 

[Mr. 123]

The feature sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. I definitively won't turn it on on my main computer where I do heavy work with big files.

However I am planning to buy a MacBook Air for traveling and lighter computing so it might be a good idea to turn on the feature only on the Air. Would the 2 folders appear in the ICloud Drive folder on my main computer (running El Capitan)?

 

[tgara]

The feature sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. I definitively won't turn it on on my main computer where I do heavy work with big files.

However I am planning to buy a MacBook Air for traveling and lighter computing so it might be a good idea to turn on the feature only on the Air. Would the 2 folders appear in the ICloud Drive folder on my main computer (running El Capitan)?

I think the feature is exclusive to Sierra, so no.

On the Documents/Desktop sync, I can see how non-power users would find it useful, and I have it turned on. However, I wish I could just sync the Documents folder, not the Desktop. I wish Apple would give a checkbox to turn them on or off independently. Cynical people (not me, really!) might say that Apple wants you to use up your free iCloud storage of 5GB and then buy a larger monthly plan from them.

On the Storage optimization option, I have that one OFF. I want to decide how my files are treated, not the machine. I'm the boss here!

 

[sperdynamite]

I think the feature is exclusive to Sierra, so no.

On the Documents/Desktop sync, I can see how non-power users would find it useful, and I have it turned on. However, I wish I could just sync the Documents folder, not the Desktop. I wish Apple would give a checkbox to turn them on or off independently. Cynical people (not me, really!) might say that Apple wants you to use up your free iCloud storage of 5GB and then buy a larger monthly plan from them.

On the Storage optimization option, I have that one OFF. I want to decide how my files are treated, not the machine. I'm the boss here!

Luckily there is a checkbox to tell iCloud not to sync the desktop. The stupid thing is, if you uncheck it all your desktop files disappear from your desktop, because now they're 'in the cloud'. You can get them back by dragging them out of icloud's desktop folder, back to your desktop. But that's really what made me mad. If I tell iCloud to stop syncing a folder, the local files shouldn't disappear, even if iCloud needs to download them to place them back in that folder in the background, that's what should happen. That's basically what I think is poorly implemented or thought out. I guess I'm just a user who wants to design my own file structures, and wants to know where files are located.

 

[KALLT]

The feature sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. I definitively won't turn it on on my main computer where I do heavy work with big files.

However I am planning to buy a MacBook Air for traveling and lighter computing so it might be a good idea to turn on the feature only on the Air. Would the 2 folders appear in the ICloud Drive folder on my main computer (running El Capitan)?

Desktop and documents are simply folders in iCloud Drive, Sierra does a wee more to integrate this better into Finder. Technically, you could probably create a very similar solution on El Capitan, if you really wanted to. Under the hood, Sierra only hides the desktop and document directories from Finder and links to them from iCloud Drive. I see no reason why that should not work on El Capitan.

 

[rayward]

Remember how everything actually used to WORK with Apple before the CLOUD?

iCloud was just a coincidence. Apple started devolving into Microsoft as soon as Jobs died.

 

[panzer06]

Desktop and documents are simply folders in iCloud Drive, Sierra does a wee more to integrate this better into Finder. Technically, you could probably create a very similar solution on El Capitan, if you really wanted to. Under the hood, Sierra only hides the desktop and document directories from Finder and links to them from iCloud Drive. I see no reason why that should not work on El Capitan.

Thankfully I wait until these sort of issues are flushed out before upgrading. Moving my Dropbox folder out of the Desktop prevents any accidental syncing/deleting/moving etc., however, the Microsoft User Data folder under Documents is another story altogether. I just need to make sure iCloud syncing is off when I do upgrade.

 

[Fuchal]

I think the feature is exclusive to Sierra, so no.

On the Documents/Desktop sync, I can see how non-power users would find it useful, and I have it turned on. However, I wish I could just sync the Documents folder, not the Desktop. I wish Apple would give a checkbox to turn them on or off independently. Cynical people (not me, really!) might say that Apple wants you to use up your free iCloud storage of 5GB and then buy a larger monthly plan from them.

On the Storage optimization option, I have that one OFF. I want to decide how my files are treated, not the machine. I'm the boss here!

Yes, the two folders show up in El Capitan as well. They are normal iCloud Drive folders.

 

[grahamperrin]

… all my desktop files. This is ****ing stupid. … I do not want them in the cloud. …

In the assistant, the words were large and prominent:

All your files and photos in iCloud​

On the same screen, below the folder icons:

Store files from Documents and Desktop in iCloud Drive

All your files from the Documents folder and the Desktop will automatically upload to iCloud Drive and stay up to date on all your devices. This will use ….… GB of iCloud storage.​

 

[carboncow]

I guess I would have assumed that it would have simply made a back-up copy to iCloud of my files. But instead it seems to have just removed them which doesn't make any sense. I understand why someone might want to have a bunch of pages docs and pdfs in the cloud but raw photo files and 2k prores stuff? Yeah, no. I keep active projects on my desktop and then archive them to an external raid and dropbox when they're finished.
[doublepost=1474920622][/doublepost]

It's the automation that is stupid. If I want to move something off-site to the cloud, then I will drag the file to that folder or save the file there. I don't want a sync setting doing this for me. If I delete a file from my cloud storage because I have it locally, I don't want the local copy disappearing because it's syncing. I can see how if you have a Macbook with not-much drive space that this would be a clever way of freeing up memory, but on an iMac I don't need that. I may have missed it during the Sierra install but if I did, then others are too. Apple could be more-clear on what it means to use iCloud drive.

I'm sorry but I'm reading this and have to comment...what a stupid rant. Just because you turned it on (I know you didn't!) and don't understand it...it's some how stupid? How about you just ingnor it or turn it off...it doesn't really impact you. Or how about you have a better work flow and put your recent photos on a proper storage location other then you desktop...yeah I know that last part is stupid to you but for some of us iCloud drive works perfectly. I have a 21 iMac at home, 27 iMac at the office and Macbook12 on the road. I love having my working documents (on my desktop) available. Not all of us put 76.5 TB of data on our desktop...some of us just have a couple dozen files in limbo as we work our projects and/or sort.

God man...please stop you are making humans look bad!

 

[bcave098]

I read that iCloud Drive moves all your local files to a particular directory when you decide to turn desktop/documents sharing off: ~/Library/iCloud Drive (Archive). You can look for this location by going to Finder → ‘Go’ → (hold option key) → Library. It should be there.

It's actually easier than that. It moves to ~/iCloud Drive (Archive). No need to find the library.

 

[grahamperrin]

please stop you are making humans look bad!

If fairness, looking at the date: the stop took place months ago.