Undo iCloud and Retain Desktop Information

[cheddar-caveman]

2018 15" MBP
I am fed up with iCloud controlling everything on my MBP & iPhone and want to disable it (it's almost full anyway so it keeps reminding me). However, when I do "untick" iCloud Drive in system preferences, I lose all my desktop info.

How can I disable iCloud while retaining my Desktop information please?

 

[pine man]

How can I disable iCloud while retaining my Desktop information please?

What you need to do is to create a new folder in Finder, called whatever you like, and then download everything from iCloud Drive into it. When you have done that untick iCloud Drive.

Having unticked iCloud Drive you can then move whatever is in your new folder to wherever you want it to be on your devices, such as your desktop.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If you didn't have that reminder, would you be fine with iCloud? The 50GB plan for iCloud is $0.99 per month. For the vast majority of folks, this is usually sufficient storage unless you're just going crazy with what you dump in there.

iCloud provides the ability to have access to your files on a variety of devices across a number of apps plus in a generic way through iCloud Drive.

If you want to keep all of your files totally isolated on each of your devices, by all means follow the instructions provided by pine man and disable iCloud.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

pine man - thanks for that but for an old man, how does one even access iCloud let alone download its contents?

Raz0rEdge - thanks for the reply. What I find annoying, for example, when I upload my photos to Photos on my MBP they also get uploaded to my iPhone and swamp it! I then have to go into Photos on the iPhone and delete them one at a time as there isn't a bulk delete option! Very annoying, so quite happy to let each item stand alone and I'll decide what goes where.

 

[pine man]

pine man - thanks for that but for an old man, how does one even access iCloud let alone download its contents?

Look in Finder and you should see iCloud Drive listed in the Sidebar. If not open Finder/Preferences/Sidebar and tick the iCloud Drive entry. You should now see iCloud Drive in the sidebar of Finder where you can drag & drop everything from it to your nominated new folder.

Remember to untick iCloud Drive from System Preferences after you have done this and before moving those files around.

 

[ferrarr]

It seems like you enabled all iCloud features. Have a read of the user guide,

iCloud User Guide

Use iCloud to keep photos, files, data, and more up to date across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Windows PC, and on iCloud.com.

support.apple.com

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Look in Finder and you should see iCloud Drive listed in the Sidebar. If not open Finder/Preferences/Sidebar and tick the iCloud Drive entry. You should now see iCloud Drive in the sidebar of Finder where you can drag & drop everything from it to your nominated new folder.

Made a folder, copied all my Desktop stuff into it and the turned off iCloud, everything has disappeared, I can't find the folder I created in Finder?
Re booted, nothing, file nowhere to be seen!

 

[pine man]

everything has disappeared

Is iCloud Drive definitely unticked?
What did you name the new folder as?
Was it an individual new folder and not created within another folder?
Can you remember the names of any of the files you downloaded from iCloud Drive? if so go to Finder and carry out a search for those names in your HD.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

I created it in Finder, Create new Folder and named it Temp Cloud.

Ha! That's done it. I saved the Temp Cloud folder under Mac HD, Users, my name. Turned off iCloud then went back to the HD, Users, me, and moved the folder contents back to my Desktop! Seems to be OK and iCloud is OFF ?

 

[pine man]

I can think of no reason why that folder should have disappeared unless for some reason it had become associated with iCloud Drive. The default for iCloud Drive is for Desktop & Documents only and a new folder shouldn't be backed up to it.

You are sure you didn't create the new folder within Documents?

Have you tried ticking iCloud Drive and seeing if it is in there?

 

[cheddar-caveman]

I can think of no reason why that folder should have disappeared unless for some reason it had become associated with iCloud Drive. The default for iCloud Drive is for Desktop & Documents only and a new folder shouldn't be backed up to it.

You are sure you didn't create the new folder within Documents?

Have you tried ticking iCloud Drive and seeing if it is in there?

Sorted as above pine man, many thanks for your time.

 

[pine man]

Just out of interest where did you find it?

 

[cheddar-caveman]

I turned iCloud back on, re booted the computer and it was back on the Desktop. I then moved it to the HD as I said and all sorted.
I guess being on the Desktop iCloud saw it as belonging to it? No idea!
Many thanks.

 

[pine man]

Your welcome.

 

[chscag]

Hey caveman.....

Welcome back to the forums. Glad you took my advice and returned. Always good to see old friends again!

Regards.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Hey chscag, thank you! Nice to see the familiar layout! And first question asked, first question answered! Got rid of the iCloud ??