Need to free up space on MacBook Air, how do I delete files on MacBook Air without deleting those elsewhere?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
The best that you can do is to optimize files (system settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive). That will retain files in iCloud for accessibility and minimize the space used on the Air. Or, you can offload the files to an external drive but lose accessibility in iCloud
Where specifically is "elsewhere"? What drive? What other device? What web location or cloud storage service?
If you have iCloud Drive active and you delete files from your iCloud Drive folder, they are gone from iCloud. That means those devices you have synchronized will no longer have access to them either.
From 'elsewere' I meant iPhone, iPad and iCloud storage. I just need space freed up on my MacBook Air and hope to keep the files in iCloud storage. If I use an external hard drive to copy the files from laptop and then delete those form laptop to make space, would the files be recoverable from iCloud?
Anything that you delete will be deleted. What do you mean? You can offload files to an external drive.
Storage on MacBook Air
