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iCloud duplicates a lot of files

I share Documents & Desktop folders in iCloud settings, and have a lot of projects in Documents folder, and sometimes iCloud duplicates files like on the screenshot


I have around hundred of similar projects, and just imagine how many duplicated files I have to remove manually. Is it something that can be fixed? Or is it a known bug ?


Thank you.

Mac mini, macOS 12.5

Posted on Jun 9, 2022 3:21 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 10, 2022 9:28 AM

You are sharing files from Mac to other Mac users that is signed in with same Apple ID and password the same network the read and write permissions for them is to edit the file ( they are duplicating the file from finder that's the reason its shown duplicates in your Mac see the article Use iCloud File Sharing to share documents with other iCloud users - Apple Support

Everyone views the same shared document. If you allow others to make edits, they can change and save the document and you see the updates the next time you open the document on your Mac.

In future change read and write permissions settings Change permissions for files, folders, or disks on Mac - Apple Support

  • Read only: Allows a user to open the item, but not change its contents.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 10, 2022 9:28 AM in response to yaquake

You are sharing files from Mac to other Mac users that is signed in with same Apple ID and password the same network the read and write permissions for them is to edit the file ( they are duplicating the file from finder that's the reason its shown duplicates in your Mac see the article Use iCloud File Sharing to share documents with other iCloud users - Apple Support

Everyone views the same shared document. If you allow others to make edits, they can change and save the document and you see the updates the next time you open the document on your Mac.

In future change read and write permissions settings Change permissions for files, folders, or disks on Mac - Apple Support

  • Read only: Allows a user to open the item, but not change its contents.


Jun 14, 2022 2:11 AM in response to tygb

Thank you for your reply. I use my own AppleID for my work laptop and home Mac mini, and I share the whole Document folder as per screenshot:


The duplicates are being created even if my work laptop is turned off (actually it was turned off for a week). So there is nobody who can edit the files at the same time. Another point - the majority of the files which were duplicated weren't edited for a long time. So it's just happened: files got duplicated with no reason: nobody did changes to them and didn't even open them.

iCloud duplicates a lot of files

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