how do I store files in iCloud but not on my Macbook

I have 2 terabytes of iCloud storage but only a 1 terabyte hard drive on my Macbook. I want to store files on my iCloud but not on my iMac. How do I do it? And how do I make sure the files I want locally are on my Imac?

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MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 6:31 PM

Me too (298) Me too Me too (298) Me too Reply Question marked as Top-ranking reply User level: Level 10 196,603 points

Posted on Jun 16, 2021 7:10 AM

As an add-on to tygb's advice.

As described, if you enable "Desktop & Documents" folder for iCloud, the files from these two folders will be moved to iCloud Drive, and "Optimise Storage" will automatically remove older files, that have not been used in a long time, if free storage is needed.

To ensure, that the documents you want to keep mirrored locally, you can click the download arrow to force a download.
To remove more local copies for files you do not need any longer locally, ctrl-click the file or folder and use the command "Remove Download".

This way you can be in control of what is mirrored locally and what is only in iCloud.

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