You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

If I delete files from my iMac desktop... will it also delete the backup copy in iCloud?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 15, 2021 2:20 AM

Top-ranking reply

David McKinlay

Level 7

22,960 points

Posted on Mar 15, 2021 2:41 AM

Yes, if your question is about files on iCloud when you have chosen to sync your Desktop and Documents folders in System Preferences > Apple ID.

Read the support article here.

It is misleading to think of the files on iCloud as backup copies. This implies that you can set and forget about them until such time that you need to retrieve them including after a loss of data on your computer. iCloud is a syncing service with which all your participating devices can share and mirror your files on each device.

Additionally, Apple provides the option for Macs to upload the contents of the iCloud Drive folder in Finder. Thereafter, the contents are synced between the iCloud Drive folder and iCloud.

View in context

If I delete files from my iMac desktop... will it also delete the backup copy in iCloud?

Similar questions