iCloud Drive lets you could have the most effective of each worlds: deep storage that gives a type of backup and syncs throughout all of your gadgets. When you allow optimized storage in macOS in System Settings > Account Title > iCloud > iCloud Drive, your Mac routinely removes recordsdata in reverse order of the frequency you utilize them if it must filter out house to keep away from your startup quantity from changing into too full. It leaves a placeholder file in the identical location that you may entry as if it had been downloaded, and iCloud Drive automagically retrieves it if you attempt to preview or edit it.
Earlier than macOS Sequoia, if a file wasn’t regionally downloaded, you would navigate to it within the Finder by way of iCloud Drive and Management-click/right-click to pick Obtain Now from the contextual menu. This instantly retrieves the file or a set of recordsdata. This may be useful when an app doesn’t work together appropriately with an iCloud Drive saved file otherwise you wish to copy or transfer the recordsdata to different storage.
Foundry
Beginning in Sequoia, nevertheless, Apple added an possibility already obtainable in different file-sync utilities, like Dropbox. A brand new possibility within the contextual menu reads Maintain Downloaded. This technique of pinning ensures the file gained’t be purged even when house runs low–different recordsdata can be eliminated if want be. (And, bear in mind, these “purged” recordsdata stay saved in your iCloud storage at Apple’s storage.)
That is significantly useful in case you have a low-bandwidth Web connection or are planning to journey and have to be positive the recordsdata you want are on the Mac you’re bringing with out counting on an Web connection.
Maintain Downloaded gives a center floor between minimizing the usage of your startup quantity with unneeded recordsdata and always battling with a virtually full drive.
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