Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Bulldoze

Learn how to share your files from your Mac Desktop and your Documents folder to all of your devices with iCloud Bulldoze.

Desktop of a MacBook Air running macOS Big Sur showing iCloud Drive. And an iPhone 12 Pro running iOS 14 showing the iCloud Drive Desktop.

Plough on Desktop and Documents

Plow on Desktop and Documents on every Mac that you want to use with iCloud Drive.

  1. From your Mac, cull Apple carte  > System Preferences. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud. In macOS Mojave or before, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Make sure that iCloud Drive is turned on.
  3. Adjacent to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  4. Cull Desktop & Documents Folders.
    iCloud Drive Options screen on a Mac that shows the Desktop & Documents Folders option selected.
  5. Click Done.

If you want to store your files in iCloud Drive and some other cloud storage service, you can keep copies of your files in both, but you tin't keep folders from a third-political party deject service in iCloud Drive. You tin keep your other deject service folders in a unlike place on your Mac, like the home folder.

If yous already use a feature from another cloud provider that syncs or manages your Desktop and Documents folders, you need to plow it off to use Desktop and Documents.

Detect your Desktop and Documents files on all of your devices

When you add your Desktop and Documents to iCloud Drive, all of your files motility to iCloud and any new files you create are automatically stored in iCloud too. So you tin can notice your files on all of your devices.

Your files upload to iCloud each time your device connects to the Internet. Depending on your Internet speed, the time it takes for y'all to see your files on your other devices might vary.

On your Mac

You can detect your Desktop and Documents folders in the iCloud department of the Finder sidebar. If you add together a second Mac Desktop, yous can notice those files in the Desktop folder in iCloud Bulldoze. Look for a folder with the same name equally your 2nd Mac. You lot can as well apply Spotlight to search for specific file names.

On your iPhone, iPad, and iPod impact

You tin find the files in the Files app in iOS 11 or later. You can use any compatible app to admission and edit your files directly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod affect.

If you're using iOS 9 or iOS x, you lot can access your files in the iCloud Drive app.

On iCloud.com

  1. Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple tree ID on your iPad, Mac, or PC.
  2. Go to iCloud Bulldoze.
  3. Double-click the Desktop or Documents folder.

If you lot want to use the file or make edits, just click and download it to your iPad or reckoner. When you're done making edits, upload the file to iCloud Drive to see the latest version everywhere.

Store your files in iCloud and save space on your device

The files that you keep in iCloud Bulldoze utilise your iCloud storage. And as long as y'all accept enough space in iCloud, you tin store as many files as you like.

If yous need more infinite, you can delete files to free up space in iCloud. When you use iCloud Drive and delete a file on one device, it deletes on every device that you're signed in to with the same Apple ID. You tin find deleted files in the Recently Deleted folder in the Files app or on iCloud.com for 30 days. After that, they're removed.

Learn more nigh how to manage your iCloud storage.

Plough off Desktop and Documents

  1. From your Mac, cull Apple bill of fare  > System Preferences. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud. On macOS Mojave or before, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, and then click iCloud.
  2. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  3. Deselect Desktop & Documents Folders.
  4. Click Done.

What happens when yous turn off Desktop and Documents

When you turn off Desktop & Documents Folders, your files stay in iCloud Drive and a new Desktop and Documents folder is created on your Mac in the domicile folder. Y'all can move files from iCloud Drive to your Mac every bit you need them, or select all of your files and drag them to the identify you want to proceed them.

What happens when y'all turn off iCloud Bulldoze or sign out of iCloud

If you plow off iCloud Drive or sign out of iCloud, a new Desktop and Documents folder is created in your home folder. You also have the option to go on a local copy of your files that are in iCloud Drive. If yous keep a local copy of your files in iCloud Bulldoze, they're copied to a folder called iCloud Drive (Archive) in your home binder. You tin can move any files that were in your iCloud Desktop and Documents to your new local Desktop and Documents.

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