i am using onedrive and icloud and recently decided i wanted to have most of my files in icloud cause it's easier to access. i noticed when i started transfering files into icloud it was using up my hard drive space.
is there a way to have files live in the cloud and have them download when needed so as not to use all my hd space.
I do that on my main desktop Mac to selected files/folders. Put files/folders to iCloud, let them upload, then control-click the file/folder > Remove Download.
Yes, it needs some baby sitting, and sometimes you have to do that to only files and then only folders or sometimes in smaller batches. And after opening such file, you have re-do "Remove Download".
But then those files/folders on the main desktop Mac's iCloud are only placeholders that take almost zero disk space but I can access them on other Macs, iPhone, and iPad.
p.s. remember that iCloud is not a backup, but a sync service. So if you by mistake remove a file on one device, that mistake is synced to other devices (unless you manage disconnect the from the net before they get a chance to sync).
Matti Haveri wrote: … after opening such file, you have re-do "Remove Download".
This makes sense, since you have to first download the file to use it.
I think that it's worth saying that iCloud Drive was not designed to be an archive of seldom used files. iCloud Drive's purpose is to allow us to quickly access our files from anywhere, and so while storing files off the computer is possible, it's also a bit awkward. Apple could, perhaps, provide a storage service (which I don't think they want to do,) but it would necessarily be different from iCloud Drive.
I save space on the internal drive of my MacBook by offloading the less used file to a small, one ounce, SSD that I carry around with my computer. That lets me keep the often-used files and Photos Libraries on the internal drive so that background operations can be performed there, and I can back them up on Time Machine and other drives. You can't back up files that aren't there and, as Matti Haveri points out, iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos are not backup services.
put files into icloud without it using up my hard drive space on macbook
