128 Macworld • August 2019HELP DESK
access all your assets wherever you are, even when
you’re off the Internet.
However, iCloud Photos requires a certain level
of commitment. Any device linked to iCloud Photos
has to retain the full library – even if each item
of media is just a thumbnail – and you can’t pick
and choose what’s synced.
I’ve heard from people with multiple Macs,
who want to keep at least one Mac out of that
sync set while continuing to use iCloud. That’s
perfectlyreasonable,asAppledoesn’trequire
everyiCloud-linked Mac has iCloud Photos
enabled just because one or more does.
The key is in Photos for macOS, in the Photos
> Preferences settings for iCloud. There’s a simple
checkbox there for iCloud Photos. If it’s unchecked,
there’s nothing more to do. Even with an iCloud
account used on other Macs and with iOS devices
for iCloud Photos, this particular account on this
particular Mac won’t download images and videos
or upload those captured or imported locally.
But if the iCloud Photos box is checked, you
need to understand what happens next: Photos
prompts you about whether to check ‘Download
Originals to this Mac’. If you choose to do so and
hadn’t previously had that option selected, Photos
downloads the full-resolution versions of all media.
You can opt not to do that, and only synced images
downloaded in full are retained. (More likely,
you’ll want to create a new Photos Library after
you disable iCloud Photos on a single Mac while
keeping it active elsewhere.)