Put your desktop online
You can have the same Desktop and
Documents folders across compatible Macs,
and access them from iOS devices and the
web too. Click Options next to iCloud Drive,
then tick Desktop & Documents Folders.
Low on local storage?
If your Mac is filling up, iCloud Drive can
intelligently free up space: in its options, check
Optimize Mac Storage. It will try to keep files
locally that it thinks you’ll need. Others are
redownloadable by clicking their cloud icon.
Prompts when removing
Finder asks for confirmation if you try
to move online files to your Mac’s local storage.
If that gets annoying, go to Finder > Prefs >
Advanced and turn off “Show warning before
removing from iCloud Drive”.
On the web
With those folders set to sync to iCloud,
you can sign in at iCloud.com in a web browser
on other computers. Click iCloud Drive, then
open the Desktop or Documents folder to
access files saved to those places on your Mac.Create Finder shortcuts
You don’t have to start at the top of
iCloud Drive to find something. Just like
regular folders on your Mac, you can drag
folders from it to Finder’s sidebar or the
right end of the Dock to create shortcuts.Get more space
The space available on iCloud Drive
is the capacity of your iCloud account minus
other data stored in it (see tip, top right). To
add more, go to iCloud’s prefs, click Manage,
then Buy More Storage/Change Storage Plan.GENIUS TIPWhen you add more
iCloud storage, it’s
shared by Mail, iCloud
Backup, iCloud Photos
and other services that
use iCloud, as well as
files in iCloud Drive.GENIUS TIPSome iPad Pros have more
storage than many Macs,
but (as of iOS 12) there’s
no option to download all
of your iCloud Drive, like
on a Mac. Ensure you
prepare for any offline
period by downloading
what you might need.How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad
All image rights: Apple. maclife.com SEP 2019 81