How to offload local Mac files to iCloud and free up space
Learn about several ways macOS can automatically offload large files to iCloud Drive in order to free up local storage space on your Mac’s drive.
If your Mac’s storage is low but you have sufficient free space in your iCloud account, you can tell macOS to offload files to your iCloud Drive on the fly, or you can do it manually. Doing so will also let you access offloaded files in your iCloud Drive on other devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Windows PCs.
However, you may want to purchase an iCloud+ or Apple One subscription with at least 50GB of cloud storage because every Apple account only gets 5GB for free. I also recommend offloading only files you access rarely because downloading them from iCloud requires a few extra steps and a fast internet connection.
Option 1: Manually drag files to iCloud Drive
1) Set up Cloud Drive on your Mac, then click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose System Settings. Now click your Apple account at the top of the System Settings sidebar, navigate to iCloud > Drive, and ensure that the ‘Sync this Mac‘ switch is in the ON position.
2) Click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a new Finder window, then select iCloud Drive in the sidebar. You may need to turn on the Finder sidebar first by clicking the Finder > Settings menu, selecting the Sidebar tab, and ticking the iCloud Drive option.
3) Copy and paste or drag one or more files or folders from your Mac and drop them on the iCloud Drive window, then wait for the items to finish uploading. This may take some time, depending on file size and the speed of your internet connection. To see upload status, hit the info icon ⓘ next to ‘iCloud Drive’ in the Finder sidebar.
4) Right-click or Control-click uploaded items in the iCloud Drive window and choose Remove Download in the menu. Doing so will delete local copies on your Mac, freeing up local storage space. Don’t worry, you now have copies of your files in your iCloud Drive. If you want to use an offloaded file locally, select it in the iCloud Drive window and choose ‘Download Now’ in the right-click menu.
Option 2: Sync your Desktop and Documents folders with iCloud Drive
macOS lets you synchronize the Desktop and Documents folders in your macOS account with iCloud Drive. Doing so will automatically save everything in your Documents folder and on the desktop to iCloud Drive, allowing you to access your documents and desktop items on any device. You can turn on iCloud sync for the Documents and Desktop folders in four ways, as explained below.
Method 1: Navigate to System Settings > Apple account > iCloud > Drive and turn on the switch next to “Desktop & Documents Folders.”
Method 2: Click the Finder icon in the Dock, then hit the Finder > Settings menu, select the General tab, and tick the box next to “Sync Desktop & Documents folders.”
Method 3: Venture into System Settings > General > Storage and click the “Store in iCloud” button under the Recommendations heading.
Method 4: Go to System Settings > General > Storage and click the info button ⓘ next to iCloud Drive, then hit “Enable iCloud Desktop and Documents.”
When you turn this option on, macOS will create separate Documents and Desktop folders in iCloud Drive. Everything you save in the local Documents folder or the desktop on your Mac will be automatically uploaded to their corresponding locations in iCloud Drive. This lets you free up storage space on your Mac by deleting cached offline copies of files. To do so, Control-click or right-click the Downloads or Desktop folder in your iCloud Drive and choose Remove Download. Conversely, to retain local copies on your Mac for faster access, choose ‘Keep Downloaded‘ from the menu.
Option 3: Upload files to iCloud Drive on the web
You can also upload files to your iCloud Drive via a web browser if you don’t prefer the Finder method. Visit icloud.com/iclouddrive and log in with your Apple account. Next, hit the upload icon that looks like a cloud with an upwardly-pointed arrow to upload selected files from your Mac. Once that’s done, you can safely trash said files on your Mac to free up local storage space. You can also use the iCloud Drive web app to download any uploaded file.
Option 4: Use the Optimize Mac Storage feature
You can have macOS dynamically offload files to iCloud Drive. Go to System Settings > Apple account > iCloud > Drive and turn on the “Optimize Mac Storage” option. Doing so will retain local files for as long as there’s sufficient storage space on the internal drive. As the available free space shrinks. However, macOS will automatically upload files you rarely use to iCloud Drive and remove offline copies. You can always download these items again if needed.
If you don’t use iCloud Drive or don’t want to pay Apple for iCloud storage, you can also offload your files to Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Photos, Backblaze, or an external hard drive.
Other storage-saving tips
For other storage-saving tips, be sure to check out 30 techniques to free up storage space on a Mac, some of which involve the Optimized Storage feature, clearing your Downloads folder, and deleting old email attachments. And if you use iCloud Drive frequently, you may want to put an iCloud Drive shortcut to the desktop or the Dock for one-click access.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/13/how-to-offload-local-mac-files-to-icloud/