ICloud confusion?

[Leaf.]

Hello,

So I'm quite confused on the options present upon clicking the iCloud symbol in system preferences. Can anyone shed some light? (Please see the image I provided too)

Basically we have options such as; Photos, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, Notes etc etc

Am I right in saying, if I uncheck these; any photos, mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, safari, notes etc will not be synchronised automatically from my MacBook onto my iCloud (unless I drag and drop stuff).

Furthermore, when I click onto option on the iCloud Drive tab it has options like preview, pages, mail, weather and system preferences? isn't this the exact same thing previously? Why are these specifically under options of the iCloud Drive??

 

[Zazoh]

You are correct. I do not sync cloud and photos because I don't want 1000s of photos on my iPhone. So in addition to the cloud you can sync to other devices with the same apple id.

For that reason I always check contacts, safari, and the others because it is nice to have passwords and bookmarks synched. For files, I manually put them in iCloud by going to iCloud.com -- I do that for files I need but am not actively editing anymore.

 

[Leaf.]

You are correct. I do not sync cloud and photos because I don't want 1000s of photos on my iPhone. So in addition to the cloud you can sync to other devices with the same apple id.

For that reason I always check contacts, safari, and the others because it is nice to have passwords and bookmarks synched. For files, I manually put them in iCloud by going to iCloud.com -- I do that for files I need but am not actively editing anymore.

Aha! Thanks for that. But I still don't understand why iCloud Drive has it own options and a bunch of other stuff to be checked/unchecked. Whats the difference between the iCloud and iCloud Drive?

 

[bcave098]

Aha! Thanks for that. But I still don't understand why iCloud Drive has it own options and a bunch of other stuff to be checked/unchecked. Whats the difference between the iCloud and iCloud Drive?

iCloud itself is a group of syncing services. iCloud Drive is a cloud file storage solution. The options under iCloud Drive are for which apps you want to sync the files.

 

[Leaf.]

iCloud itself is a group of syncing services. iCloud Drive is a cloud file storage solution. The options under iCloud Drive are for which apps you want to sync the files.

Cheers pal! I kind of get that. Soo...iCloud = group of syncing services like; photos, mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, safari, notes, keychain, back to my Mac and find my Mac...

So basically all those if checked, would be synchronised onto my iCloud BUT NOT iCloud Drive (and would I be correct in saying if I made a change to them in iCloud Drive it would change what is on my Mac?)

Next, iCloud Drive = apps you want to sync the files like: Desktop + Doc folders, preview, pages, mail, weather, and system preferences

So basically with this, all those checked would be synchronised onto my iCloud Drive NOT standard iCloud.

When thing that confuses me though is - why is preview/photos, and mail both under iCloud and iCloud Drive?

 

[bcave098]

Preview is an app for viewing photos and PDFs, and usually refers to the latter in the context of iCloud Drive. Photos is for your pictures and videos only.

On the main page, Mail refers to your (optional) @icloud.com email address. In terms of under iCloud Drive, I'm not sure what it's specifically referring to.

 

[Leaf.]

Preview is an app for viewing photos and PDFs, and usually refers to the latter in the context of iCloud Drive. Photos is for your pictures and videos only.

On the main page, Mail refers to your (optional) @icloud.com email address. In terms of under iCloud Drive, I'm not sure what it's specifically referring to.

I colour coded this so it makes it easier to understand the bits I don't get.

So if I uncheck preview from the options of "iCloud Drive", it would mean anything that uses preview i.e. any PDF/picture that opens in preview currently on my Mac (because atm all of them do), will NOT automatically be sent to iCloud Drive (I can however drag and drop as usual).

Thanks for clearing this up.

 

[jparker402]

I confess to being confused about iCloud/iCloud Drive, as well. Spoke briefly with a gentleman from Apple Care several nights ago who, I think, said that iCloud was a method of sharing files (with others or with other of your own devices), not as extra storage space. He was telling me that with iCloud, if you delete/edit files/photos/etc, that permanently carries through no matter where those files/photos, etc appear. Specifically, he said don't store your photos in iCloud if you want to be sure that they are inviolate. If you delete them from your iPhone, they are gone from your Mac. From what I think I am reading here, maybe that isn't the case, depending on how you do it?

 

[bcave098]

I colour coded this so it makes it easier to understand the bits I don't get.

So if I uncheck preview from the options of "iCloud Drive", it would mean anything that uses preview i.e. any PDF/picture that opens in preview currently on my Mac (because atm all of them do), will NOT automatically be sent to iCloud Drive (I can however drag and drop as usual).

Thanks for clearing this up.

From what I've experienced, it only puts things you save in Preview to iCloud Drive. Unless you pick somewhere else in the save prompt.

 

[Zazoh]

..., said that iCloud was a method of sharing files (with others or with other of your own devices), not as extra storage space. He was telling me that with iCloud, if you delete/edit files/photos/etc, that permanently carries through no matter where those files/photos, etc appear.

There are discussions on this in the Apple Community Forums. Some have lost files enabling the drive and then removing files from a device to have them removed from the cloud.

But if you don't enable the "Drive" then you can upload files manually to iCloud and have them accessible to devices and use it as a form of external storage.

Regardless, I don't trust the cloud as a backup location and don't trust a single source backup either. ;-)