Iphoto - delete all photos but keep in iCloud?

[acrafton]

So. . for whatever reason just realized that I have a copy of all of my photos on my MacBook Pro that are also stored in the cloud. Taking up 300GB on my MB. I want to delete them all from my MB without impacting the cloud versions. I realize some settings most of have been wrong (or at least not what I wanted) to get here).

So, if I go into Photos and Preferences and check "Optimize Mac Storage" will that automatically replace all the full size copies on my MB with smaller size copies? If so, how long does it take and if not, how can I accomplish what I want - deleting all local photos.

Thanks

 

[Diamond Dog]

So, if I go into Photos and Preferences and check "Optimize Mac Storage" will that automatically replace all the full size copies on my MB with smaller size copies?

Yes.

If so, how long does it take

Not very long, since if you already have full size copies, it's not going to have to download anything.

 

[HDFan]

So. . for whatever reason just realized that I have a copy of all of my photos on my MacBook Pro that are also stored in the cloud. Taking up 300GB on my MB. I want to delete them all from my MB without impacting the cloud versions.

Do you care if you lose your photos? Having just one copy in one location is dangerous. One backup rule is 3 backups on 3 different media types in 3 different locations, one location being remote like a bank safe deposit box.