If you want to make your personal files accessible on both your iPhone and your iPad or MacBook, you can use iCloud Drive for this. This allows you to synchronize files between Apple devices. We explain how here.
Apple users are familiar with iCloud: it is the central cloud storage service where you store your iPhone photos , sync your notes and calendars between your Mac and iPhone, and where your iPhone backups are stored. However, iCloud is also a gathering place for other Apple services, such as Find My iPhone, Keychain sync and iCloud Drive. We are talking about this latest service from the tech giant from Cupertino here.
For many people it is not clear what exactly iCloud Drive is, what the difference is with iCloud and what an Apple ID has to do with it. You must have an Apple account to use Apple products. This is called your Apple ID. With your Apple ID you can make purchases in the App Store, make appointments at an Apple Store if you have a problem and register for all kinds of Apple services.
Full integration
ICloud Drive is part of iCloud; this is Apple’s cloud storage service. You can store files on your iCloud Drive by dragging them from the Finder to the iCloud Drive folder, but the big advantage is that iCloud Drive is fully integrated into macOS. This means that you can work on your files from different Apple devices. The files are stored on your iCloud Drive and you can continue working on them on another device without any problems.
With both iCloud Drive and macOS made by Apple, integration is much smarter, easier and more intuitive than other solutions. To use iCloud Drive on all your devices, you need to activate it per device. On an iPhone or iPad, go to your iCloud settings and move the slider at the back iCloud Drive On. On your Mac, check the box System Preferences, Apple ID, iCloud Drive.
To view all your files on iCloud Drive, you have several options. On your Mac, just go to the Finder and look to the left. below Favorites you will normally find your documents, downloads and apps folders. Underneath you will find a cup iCloud. Here you will also see your iCloud Drive.
You can also find all your iCloud Drive documents from another PC by going to icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID. click on iCloud Drive and you will see the same content as in the Finder. Open the app on your iPhone or iPad Files. Tap at the bottom Leaves and tap iCloud Drive.
Sync files
iCloud Drive is not an online storage service in the sense that you can drag and drop files from your computer to iCloud Drive to save space on your Mac. You should think of iCloud Drive as a sync service that ensures that you can always view, edit, and store your files on all devices connected to your iCloud account.
However, you can save space on your online iCloud Drive by choosing to exclude certain apps from it. On your Mac, go to System Preferences, Apple ID and click Options behind iCloud Drive. One option that takes up a lot of storage space is Folder ‘Desktop’ and ‘Documents’.
If you have this activated, files located on your desktop or in your documents folder are automatically synced with iCloud Drive so that you can also access them on an iPad, iPhone or other Mac. Very handy, but if you want to save space, it is better to turn this option off.
It can also happen that there are old files on your iCloud Drive that you once created with an old iPhone, iPad or Mac. You will also see this in the Finder. However, this has a gray cloud icon behind it, which means that the folder or file is only stored online and has not (yet) been copied to your Mac.
If you want to have these files locally available, click on the icon. The file will be copied to your disk and the cloud icon will disappear.
Integration with apps
iCloud Drive comes to life when you open an app in macOS. All macOS internal apps support iCloud Drive, and virtually all well-known third-party programs offer integration with the storage service. If you open an Apple app, such as Numbers or Pages and create a new file, click at the top Unnamed and change the name of the document.
By default, the program saves your documents in the documents folder of your home folder. To change the save location, click the triangle next to the name. Here you select back Location the option iCloud Drive. The file will now be saved in the root folder of iCloud Drive.
If you want to create a folder on your iCloud Drive, click Others, select the folder iCloud Drive on the left and click New map. Now the file will be saved in a subfolder on your iCloud Drive. If you now want to open the file on another Mac or iOS device, make sure you are signed in with the same Apple ID on that device and have the iCloud Drive option turned on in the system settings.
Share files with others
Finally, it is also possible to share a file or folder from your iCloud Drive with others, for example if you want to work on a document together. In the Finder, go to your iCloud Drive folder and select the folder or file you want to share. Select with your right mouse button Share, Add people. You now have a number of options for sharing the content: via an email message, via the Messages app, via a copied link, or via AirDrop.
This last option is very useful if the person is nearby at the time of sharing. You select this person’s Mac, iPad, or iPhone and the link is immediately shared. click on Sharing options to define rules for the recipient.
If you are behind Accessible for the option Anyone who has the link you do not have an overview of who can view the document. This is useful if you want recipients to be able to share the file with others. below Jurisdiction is standard Can make changes selected, this is essential if you want to work on a file with others.
If you don’t want people to be able to make changes, choose Read only. You can also see exactly in your iCloud Drive folder whether files have been shared with you by others or with whom you have shared certain files. You will see the name of the person who shared the file with you in gray after the file name. Finally, you can change the sharing options by right-clicking the file or folder and for Share, Show people to choose.
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