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12 inch MacBook arrived yesterday

martinchivers said:
thanks. I assume by (enter time machine) you mean the green, time machine logo from launchpad. to access the backups. No I've not set the hidden folders to unhidden, but will do. I did briefly look at dropbox, but that was years ago.
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Launchpad is one way. I have my TM prefs set to show TM in the menubar and you can "Enter Time Machine" directly from that, much quicker.
Quickest way to show and hide invisible folders on a modern Mac is shift+cmd+period, with Finder as the foreground app. Do it once to make invisibles visible, do it again to make them invisible.
Dropbox has changed a lot in 10 years.
 
just another thought. if viewing and editing word files (either .doc or .docx) that were originally made on the (main) iMac, with a huge range of fonts, do I also need those same fonts installed on the MacBook? I don't want to be looking at files the incorrect font, as the replacement, used
Mike Boreham said:
Launchpad is one way. I have my TM prefs set to show TM in the menubar and you can "Enter Time Machine" directly from that, much quicker.
Quickest way to show and hide invisible folders on a modern Mac is shift+cmd+period, with Finder as the foreground app. Do it once to make invisibles visible, do it again to make them invisible.
Dropbox has changed a lot in 10 years.
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shift-cmd-Period......which is "Period". (I tried space) Once I'm satisfied that time machine is backing up the documents folder, I'll transfer my data over. Still not sure whether to use iCloud Drive or documents as my default location for this though.
 
martinchivers said:
just another thought. if viewing and editing word files (either .doc or .docx) that were originally made on the (main) iMac, with a huge range of fonts, do I also need those same fonts installed on the MacBook? I don't want to be looking at files the incorrect font, as the replacement, used

shift-cmd-Period......which is "Period". (I tried space) Once I'm satisfied that time machine is backing up the documents folder, I'll transfer my data over. Still not sure whether to use iCloud Drive or documents as my default location for this though.
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No idea about fonts, sorry.

Shift+cmd+period = shift+cmd+ full stop or "."
 
martinchivers said:
Still not sure whether to use iCloud Drive or documents as my default location for this though.
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This statement makes no sense to me I am afraid. If you have turned on the "Desktop and Documents in iCloud" option which you say you have then your Documents folder is in iCloud, there is no either/or. Perhaps you mean store your documents in local folders not in the ~/Documents folder.
 
sorry. yes, Desktop & documents in iCloud, is on. I've set hidden to unhidden, Burt still can't find my test folder that was setup in documents. (on a separate note) My time machine does around 14 backups per day. It that a bit OTT, do you think?
 
Only 14? It is supposed to back up every hour !

Have you found the normally invisible ~/Library on the TM backups? Have you found it on your main volume?

But as I said before, it is much better to "enter Time Machine" and do a test restore from an earlier time if you don't believe Time Machine is backing up your Documents. Much better than digging around in the invisible user library on the TM backup drive, which is invisible because Apple doesn't want you doing it that way. When you find it on the TM drive your data will not look like it does when you see it via the Finder in iCloud Drive.
 
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Mike Boreham said:
Only 14? It is supposed to back up every hour !

Have you found the normally invisible ~/Library on the TM backups? Have you found it on your main volume?

But as I said before, it is much better to "enter Time Machine" and do a test restore from an earlier time if you don't believe Time Machine is backing up your Documents. Much better than digging around in the invisible user library on the TM backup drive, which is invisible because Apple doesn't want you doing it that way. When you find it on the TM drive your data will not look like it does when you see it via the Finder in iCloud Drive.
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Actually need to correct this a bit. What I have said about seeing your actual documents in the invisible Mobile Documents folder, and it not looking the same, is true. But there is a Finder short cut to it in your user directory in the TM backups which makes the Documents look just like in the main drive. So you don't need to bother with the invisibles stuff.

In which case I don't understand why you are not seeing your documents on your TM backup drive. Should be easy.
 
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martinchivers said:
I recon it could be a time machine setting....along the lines of what to back up & thats set to Samsung SSD???? maybe
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As I said Time machine excludes external drives by default. You have to remove them from the exclusions list to include them. Not sure how that works if you are booted from the external. What does TM options say in the TM pref pane?
 
martinchivers said:
I’ve not looked yet. But will be on the case tomorrow once back in front on the iMac. Thanks
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This also confuses me! I thought we were only talking about your MacBook, which I understood you to say is booted from a Samsung external. I fear we may have some misunderstanding here. Dangers of trying to get into too much detail without seeing the actual computer in front of you.
 
Ahh. I have both. My “main” computer is an iMac. That’s in my office in my garage. That boots off the Samsung SSD. and all my data is within my own custom folder structure (not in documents or iCloud Drive). I’ve just bought the MacBook for use while working away and in the house, in the evening. So want to have my data available to me while working on the MacBook. This is business stuff. Word/excel and photoshop stuff mainly. But obviously i’ll use both for internet/emails etc. Any high end design stuff will be done on the iMac.
 
martinchivers said:
Ahh. I have both. My “main” computer is an iMac. That’s in my office in my garage. That boots off the Samsung SSD. and all my data is within my own custom folder structure (not in documents or iCloud Drive). I’ve just bought the MacBook for use while working away and in the house, in the evening. So want to have my data available to me while working on the MacBook. This is business stuff. Word/excel and photoshop stuff mainly. But obviously i’ll use both for internet/emails etc. Any high end design stuff will be done on the iMac.
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Ok, I think.

So had you already turned iCloud Drive and "Desktop and Docs in iCloud" on your iMac before asking in your OP how to do it on the MacBook? If yes, is the test doc you created on iCloud Drive syncing correctly between iMac and MacBook?

Your main concern is whether docs on iCloud Drive being backed up by Time Machine. I have been assuming you meant a TM backup drive connected to your MacBook but think now you may have meant a TM drive connected to your iMac.

Obviously a test doc added to the MacBook is not going to appear in the iMac TM backup unless syncing is working.

If you are not sure if a doc has sync'd to iCloud it is useful to look on iCloud.com. If it is not there it has not sync'd.
 
Yes great. Thanks. I’ll look at the iMac properly tomorrow. I think we are getting there. The test folder that I put into documents on the iMac are indeed visible on the MacBook. It’s also picked up a load of my settings to, by the look of it. Just need to be 100% confident that time machine will still back up (the documents folder). And recon i’ll have to massively up my iCloud storage space.
 
martinchivers said:
Yes great. Thanks. I’ll look at the iMac properly tomorrow. I think we are getting there. The test folder that I put into documents on the iMac are indeed visible on the MacBook. It’s also picked up a load of my settings to, by the look of it. Just need to be 100% confident that time machine will still back up (the documents folder). And recon i’ll have to massively up my iCloud storage space.
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Well good luck. Perhaps before putting all your hundreds of GB into iCloud Docs you should try a sample of real work files to simulate your proposed set up more closely.

As I said earlier I am not a huge fan of iCloud Drive as the place for all my main documents. I would probably use Dropbox in preference. Dropbox has more capability and more transparency, easier to see what is going on. iCloud is great while it is all working but if it hiccups it can be difficult to troubleshoot. When it does hiccup it usually sorts itself out with a bit more time.
 
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I'm back. yesterday was preoccupied with other stuff. I've just unhidden the folders in the last backup & found the test I set up in documents. I don't think I need to move my entire directory, as a huge amount of that won't be required on the MacBook (so leave it where it is). I dont have office or photoshop installed on the laptop yet, so will be pretty limited on what I can ultimately do anyway. I dont like pages or numbers. My iMac will always be main main, go to, computer while at home anyway (apart from in the evenings, when I'm not in the office). I can if necessary upgrade my iCloud storage to the next level, but most probably won't need to. Thanks again Mike for the help with this & hope I've not come across as too dim!
 
No problem, and glad you are sorted. I enjoy trying to help but the thread has been a reminder of the potential problems that can arise when you don't see (or understand) the whole picture!
 
I've noticed that I cannot see either my documents folder or iCloud Drive when in Adobe bridge. Had I moved the images, I would be unable to open in photoshop (on my Main computer) iMac - in the office. Not a big deal, yet as I dont have photoshop/bridge installed on the Macbook
 
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