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mrgreeneyes

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
850
57
Gatineau,Canada
how can I get iCloud Drive to stop downloading everything onto my MacBook? its taking up all the space on my MacBook.

how can I set up iCloud Drive to show all my files but not sync them or download them to my Mac until I need a file?
 
I believe the icloud is made primary to sync content across devices, its not meant to be a cloud storage drive
 
how can I get iCloud Drive to stop downloading everything onto my MacBook? its taking up all the space on my MacBook.

how can I set up iCloud Drive to show all my files but not sync them or download them to my Mac until I need a file?
If you open your iCloud Drive up in finder, right click on any file (or multiple files), you can right click and select remove download. It still keeps a preview of the file just not the whole thing. I’ve done this before.
 
You need to do two things:

  1. Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud and CHECK the box for Optimize Mac Storage. This will set the stage for iCloud to offload anything it deems unnecessary to keep a local copy of.
  2. For each item on your iCloud Drive that you don't want a local copy to be saved, right-click on it and choose "Remove Download".
The files shouldn't be downloaded again unless you try to open one, or right-click on it and choose "Download Now". But if you do end up with something downloaded again, all you need to do now is again tell it to Remove Download.
 
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You need to do two things:

  1. Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud and CHECK the box for Optimize Mac Storage. This will set the stage for iCloud to offload anything it deems unnecessary to keep a local copy of.
  2. For each item on your iCloud Drive that you don't want a local copy to be saved, right-click on it and choose "Remove Download".
The files shouldn't be downloaded again unless you try to open one, or right-click on it and choose "Download Now". But if you do end up with something downloaded again, all you need to do now is again tell it to Remove Download.
Useful info. I’m going to give that a go. Thx.
 
FWIW The stuff downloaded onto your hard drive is stored here...User Library > Mobile Documents
 
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