iCloud Drive and Yosemite - online only?

[KoolAid-Drink]

I hope my question makes sense.

I recently upgraded to the 200gb iCloud plan so I could fit all my photos on iCloud Photo Library. There's still plenty of iCloud space left, however, so I was wondering if I could upload some of my important (big) files to iCloud Drive BUT leave them ONLY on iCloud Drive, NOT on my Mac?

Here's why: my Mac's hard drive is filling up, and the files I want to upload to iCloud Drive will just be duplicates, taking up hard drive space. I'd like to make use of iCloud Drive and my plentiful iCloud storage, but not at the expense of my laptop's hard drive. I'd like to do it Dropbox/OneDrive-style, by uploading files online on iCloud.com but not on my Mac.

I hope my question was clear... and I hope someone can answer sufficiently. Many thanks!

 

[Beavix]

I was wondering if I could upload some of my important (big) files to iCloud Drive BUT leave them ONLY on iCloud Drive, NOT on my Mac?

No, you can't do that.

 

[christarp]

No, you can't do that.

Why not? I've uploaded things to icloud drive and then deleted them locally off my mac. I have all my previous classes projects and whatnot on icloud drive and not on my mac currently.

 

[Beavix]

Why not? I've uploaded things to icloud drive and then deleted them locally off my mac. I have all my previous classes projects and whatnot on icloud drive and not on my mac currently.

If you moved your files into the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac, the files are still on your Mac (and online in iCloud, of course). Everything in iCloud Drive is synced to your Mac, no exceptions.

 

[lssmit02]

Solution is to reduce size of photo library

According to Apple on this page

iCloud Photo Library will automatically manage the size of your library on each of your devices when you choose to optimize your storage in Photos > Preferences > iCloud.

Therefore, to save space on your mac, you can reduce the size of your photos library, leaving more space on your mac for the other files stored locally in your iCloud drive (which are duplicated on the iCloud drive maintained by Apple). This doesn't mean you cannot access the full size versions. According to Apple on this page,

You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them.

and

If you choose Optimize Device Storage, your original photo or video will download for edits.