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User profile for user: niketa254
niketa254 Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

how can I store my files on my mac and not on icloud?

Please can someone explain how I open a 'local' file on my hard drive?


I have enough storage available on my Mac & am fed up of having messages telling me that icloud is full & I must buy more. I KNOW its full - I never wanted to use it in the first place.


I deliberately bought huge storage on my Mac so that I can store all my files there & NOT have to use icloud.

I've read through pages of stuff here on the Apple community site & I still don't understand HOW you open a 'local' file? Where do I find that? Please help, is this a new mac thing? it never used to force you to buy storage on icloud, and teh icloud drive folder on my mac is also 200g?????

Please let me know how I can acces my files on my mac as I live in Kenya and don't always have access to good internet and then I can't get my files as they are stored on icloud and I can't access them....how do I fix this problem.... anyone who understands how to navigate this?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Oct 12, 2024 12:50 AM

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2 replies
User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
9,714 points

Oct 13, 2024 8:35 AM in response to niketa254

For macOS 14.7 Sonoma, the files that you see in the iCloud Drive listing in the sidebar is actually a folder on your Mac. So files that you see there are files on your Mac. Those files are also copied to iCloud Drive at iCloud.com, so they can be worked with from other devices. If you turn off the internet, those files will still be on your Mac.


If you have turned on "Optimize Mac Storage," then you've chosen a more complicated situation. In order to save storage space on your Mac, you have asked iCloud to keep some of the less used files at iCloud for you. In that case, this symbolmeans that the file is in iCloud and not on your Mac. You can see these symbols by checking "iCloud Status" in the "Finder>View>Show View Options" menu.

Here is an example of my iCloud list:

The Numbers file is only at iCloud.com. The others are on my Mac and copied to iCloud.


With macOS 15 Sequoia, you have more control and can choose exactly which files must be kept on your Mac and which files can be stored on iCloud and not on your Mac.

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how can I store my files on my mac and not on icloud?

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