iCloud "Folder" via Finder?

[skylerdavid]

I feel like this feature has gotten completely skimmed over and hasn't been confirmed....

http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/11/subtle-features-details-in-ios-7-and-mavericks/

You can now navigate your iCloud documents in Finder. You can drag anything into this “iCloud” folder. Each app sifts through this folder and finds associates files.

I have yet to come across an iCloud "folder".

Plus the way this is explained, it almost sounds like it's an iDisk-like feature, where we can drag-n-drop into this folder.

Anyone have more info/screenshots regarding this?

If this is real, it should have been more of a prominent feature!

 

[MikhailT]

Yea, I don't know what some folks are referring, there's no screenshot of it anywhere.

 

[notrack]

Absolutely. Highly interested in this.

 

[Mk2]

I feel like this feature has gotten completely skimmed over and hasn't been confirmed....

http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/11/subtle-features-details-in-ios-7-and-mavericks/



I have yet to come across an iCloud "folder".

Plus the way this is explained, it almost sounds like it's an iDisk-like feature, where we can drag-n-drop into this folder.

Anyone have more info/screenshots regarding this?

If this is real, it should have been more of a prominent feature!

I haven't found a folder, but if you tag something that is stored in iCloud, it shows up in Finder at that tag.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Courtesy of Peace in the other thread:

I think I just figured out the iCloud folder confusion.

If you tag a file with the iCloud tag it will show up in the iCloud tag in the finder sidebar. Any subsequent file saved to iCloud will also show up in the iCloud tag in the Finder sidebar.

 

[Jovian9]

Nice. So once you have it setup it's kind of like a dropbox type folder for iCloud. Great feature!

 

[skylerdavid]

Courtesy of Peace in the other thread:
Originally Posted by Peace
I think I just figured out the iCloud folder confusion.

If you tag a file with the iCloud tag it will show up in the iCloud tag in the finder sidebar. Any subsequent file saved to iCloud will also show up in the iCloud tag in the Finder sidebar.

Hmm...I'm trying to recreate this process...

Where is "the iCloud tag"?

Is the suggested idea to just create a new tag titled "iCloud" while saving a document to iCloud, and then your iCloud tag will auto-populate with iCloud documents whenever you save to iCloud?

Doesn't really make sense at this moment...

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Yes, you can get an iCloud folder!!!!!!
Made a test document in Pages and saved it in iCloud.
Searched for it "On this Mac" and it came up in the list.
Selected the document brought the document path to the bottom of the window.
Clicked on iCloud and selected "Open in New Tab".
File->Add to sidebar.

You even get a handy warning when you try and delete files in the finder

Wonder if they are playing around with a "dropbox" like function.

EDIT: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are all walled off from each other with "separate" documents folders.
Trying to figure out how to get to the root of iCloud.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Documents also appear in the web interface as soon as you drag and drop them in the appropriate folders.

Threw an image in the documents folder for pages and it showed up on my other mac.
Very interesting.

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The Finder icon for that folder changes to the iCloud icon when you go to it in 10.9. Didn't happen in 10.8.
The MobileDocuments folder also turns into a "root" drive.
Can tell Apple has been cooking something up!!!!!



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Ok, so just like 10.8 you can create your own "Drive" folder and make alias anywhere, the only difference it that iCloud knows it is iCloud within the Finder.

 

[jbg232]

EDIT: ...Trying to figure out how to get to the root of iCloud.

Back off son, the universe might pop if you manage to do so...

 

[JohnDoe98]

Hmm...I'm trying to recreate this process...

Where is "the iCloud tag"?

Is the suggested idea to just create a new tag titled "iCloud" while saving a document to iCloud, and then your iCloud tag will auto-populate with iCloud documents whenever you save to iCloud?

Doesn't really make sense at this moment...

Yes, exactly right, you create a custom tag named iCloud and if you sync it to iCloud, or if you add the iCloud tag from within the iCloud pane, then it'll auto-populate the folder in Finder. The problem is this folder is only useful for seeing what you have in iCloud, dragging and dropping into it won't auto-sync it to iCloud, but just add an iCloud tag to the local file. So I'm not quite sure what 9to5Mac was talking about nothing seems to work as they described it.

 

[JohnDoe98]

The Finder icon for that folder changes to the iCloud icon when you go to it in 10.9. Didn't happen in 10.8.
The MobileDocuments folder also turns into a "root" drive.
Can tell Apple has been cooking something up!!!!!


Ok, so just like 10.8 you can create your own "Drive" folder and make alias anywhere, the only difference it that iCloud knows it is iCloud within the Finder.

Ok, regarding the Mobile Documents folder, you can place files in there, and they will sync up with iCloud, but the respective apps won't pick it up, so the only way to access it is through the Finder, so that won't work if you want to make changes from your iOS device.

----------

Yes, you can get an iCloud folder!!!!!!
Made a test document in Pages and saved it in iCloud.
Searched for it "On this Mac" and it came up in the list.
Selected the document brought the document path to the bottom of the window.
Clicked on iCloud and selected "Open in New Tab".
File->Add to sidebar.

You even get a handy warning when you try and delete files in the finder
Image

Wonder if they are playing around with a "dropbox" like function.

EDIT: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are all walled off from each other with "separate" documents folders.
Trying to figure out how to get to the root of iCloud.

This process only kinda works. The iCloud folder you created will be a link to the program from which you create it, in this case pages. So any new document you throw in there will only show up in the Pages iCloud panel from within the app, you won't have access to keynote files you put in there, unless you access them from the Finder (you will see them within the panel from the Pages panel, but you can open them from there, similarly you can edit them in Keynote if you access them through Finder and they will update, but you can't see them from the Keynote panel). So in other words they won't be syncing up with iOS devices properly.

 

[travisbrowning]

Oh man, this is excellent! If iCloud had support for a more dropbox type storage that would be amazing.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Ok, regarding the Mobile Documents folder, you can place files in there, and they will sync up with iCloud, but the respective apps won't pick it up, so the only way to access it is through the Finder, so that won't work if you want to make changes from your iOS device.

Incorrect.
Docs appear across all devices when uploaded through the finder and also appear through the web interface both occurring almost instantaneously.


While the MobileDocuments has been there previously, what is fascinating is how Finder recognizes it now as a "root" drive called iCloud with special functions such as delete protection/warning. Apple has obviously been hard at work on this function or it would function like it does under 10.8 IE no special consideration for the MobileDocuments folder.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Incorrect.
Docs appear across all devices when uploaded through the finder and also appear through the web interface both occurring almost instantaneously.


While the MobileDocuments has been there previously, what is fascinating is how Finder recognizes it now as a "root" drive called iCloud with special functions such as delete protection/warning. Apple has obviously been hard at work on this function or it would function like it does under 10.8 IE no special consideration for the MobileDocuments folder.

Don't know what to tell you, but right now I have a pages document, a keynote document, and a numbers document in the root of Mobile Documents and they do not appear in the respective apps' iCloud panels (when you click file open from within the apps). They also do not show up on the iCloud webpage. They show up in Finder, and Finder indicates they are in the Cloud, but that's pointless because they do not show up anywhere else, as just pointed out. They are also not showing up on my iOS devices. That indicates the files are still sandboxed to their respective locations within the Mobile Documents folder.

Are you even running Mavericks?

Now, I can certainly put the keynote, numbers, and pages files all within a /Mobile Documents/com~apple~App/Documents folder of my choice (where "app" in that path is replaced with an iWork app or the like), and they will show up in that "App", but the problem is the other apps won't see them.

 

[jimthing]

Don't know what to tell you, but right now I have a pages document, a keynote document, and a numbers document in the root of Mobile Documents and they do not appear in the respective apps' iCloud panels (when you click file open from within the apps). They also do not show up on the iCloud webpage. They show up in Finder, and Finder indicates they are in the Cloud, but that's pointless because they do not show up anywhere else, as just pointed out. They are also not showing up on my iOS devices. That indicates the files are still sandboxed to their respective locations within the Mobile Documents folder.

Are you even running Mavericks?

Now, I can certainly put the keynote, numbers, and pages files all within a /Mobile Documents/com~apple~App/Documents folder of my choice (where "app" in that path is replaced with an iWork app or the like), and they will show up in that "App", but the problem is the other apps won't see them.

FWIW, I think I read somewhere that file names contain the name of the app they are sandboxed to in parentheses after the main file name, when stored in iCloud (or something similar)?
e.g.'s:

myfilename (Keynote)
anotherfilename (Pages)
someotherfile (Numbers)

(I could be wrong, as I can't re-find the link though. )


EDIT: found it here...
http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/11/subtle-features-details-in-ios-7-and-mavericks

- When saving to iCloud, the file’s associated application is in parenthesis. For example, if you want to save a PDF to iCloud, the menu item says “iCloud (Preview)”.

- You can now navigate your iCloud documents in Finder. You can drag anything into this “iCloud” folder. Each app sifts through this folder and finds associates files.

Does this help at all?

 

[0038459]

I feel like this feature has gotten completely skimmed over and hasn't been confirmed....

http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/11/subtle-features-details-in-ios-7-and-mavericks/



I have yet to come across an iCloud "folder".

Plus the way this is explained, it almost sounds like it's an iDisk-like feature, where we can drag-n-drop into this folder.

Anyone have more info/screenshots regarding this?

If this is real, it should have been more of a prominent feature!

Well, just like Mountain Lion, the iCloud folder can be viewed in Library, which is named Mobile Applications. On the folder itself, it is named Mobile Applications, but as you can see on finder Menubar it says iCloud with iCloud icon. I am not sure if this is the one Apple is describing of.

 

[JohnDoe98]

FWIW, I think I read somewhere that file names contain the name of the app they are sandboxed to in parentheses after the main file name, when stored in iCloud (or something similar)?
e.g.'s:

myfilename (Keynote)
anotherfilename (Pages)
someotherfile (Numbers)

(I could be wrong, as I can't re-find the link though. )


EDIT: found it here...
http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/11/subtle-features-details-in-ios-7-and-mavericks



Does this help at all?

Nope, didn't change anything for me, but thanks for the tip.

 

[inkhead]

The iCloud folder that works exactly like dropbox is not in the build of Mavericks given at WWDC. Apple said it will be available to the developers in a future build.

Yes there will be a publicly visible iCloud folder that when documents are placed within will be openable by any application. The private folders for each application will be mostly hidden in the finder.

This is basically a dropbox killer with much better CPU usage, and much better bandwidth management.

 

[JohnDoe98]

The iCloud folder that works exactly like dropbox is not in the build of Mavericks given at WWDC. Apple said it will be available to the developers in a future build.

Yes there will be a publicly visible iCloud folder that when documents are placed within will be openable by any application. The private folders for each application will be mostly hidden in the finder.

This is basically a dropbox killer with much better CPU usage, and much better bandwidth management.

Sweet, I emailed Apple about this a while ago. Hopefully it'll be integrated in iOS 7 as well. By the way, where did you obtain this info, was it posted on the developers portal, or did you read it somewhere? Cheers.

 

[jimthing]

The iCloud folder that works exactly like dropbox is not in the build of Mavericks given at WWDC. Apple said it will be available to the developers in a future build.

Yes there will be a publicly visible iCloud folder that when documents are placed within will be openable by any application. The private folders for each application will be mostly hidden in the finder.

This is basically a dropbox killer with much better CPU usage, and much better bandwidth management.

Good to know, thanks.
But I still wonder if it still does that thing of deliberately deleting folders that have no files in them, which is REALLY ANNOYING!! And another reason I have refused to use it to store any docs.

It's so stupid, as many people create folders in their directories as a placeholder, ready to move files into it. So having it disappear just because it happens to be empty is plainly an entirely stupid behaviour.

Anyone know if this still happens (perhaps in later beta build)??

 

[jimthing]

Good to know, thanks.
But I still wonder if it still does that thing of deliberately deleting folders that have no files in them, which is REALLY ANNOYING!! And another reason I have refused to use it to store any docs.

It's so stupid, as many people create folders in their directories as a placeholder, ready to move files into it. So having it disappear just because it happens to be empty is plainly an entirely stupid behaviour.

Anyone know if this still happens (perhaps in later beta build)??

bump. Anyone know?

 

[JohnDoe98]

bump. Anyone know?

Yep, still doing it. Just tested on DP2.

 

[inkhead]

Yep, still doing it. Just tested on DP2.

This isn't really an OS thing, it's the iCloud API

 

[jimthing]

Yep, still doing it. Just tested on DP2.

This isn't really an OS thing, it's the iCloud API

Fu*king great (not)!

Why can they not stop idiotic behaviour's such as this? Change the iCloud API if they have to, just stop it doing it.

I suppose Apple think it's a Really Great Behaviour™ "no empty folders using your iCloud storage space" type reasoning. But in reality, it just ends-up causing more issues than it solves to users; i.e. it's junk, so get rid of it!

Is there something else I'm missing here – why else would this be set to do this?

(Can any devs around here pass this on via official Apple feedback, as it's a proper pain in the backside.)