No longer possible to remove downloaded icloud files

[m4rkw]

It seems that the "remove download" option has been removed in Sonoma which is annoying, anyone know of another way to do this? I sometimes remove large files locally to save space.

 

[ZebedeeG]

Hmm.... I've just found this problem too!

Downloaded Sonoma yesterday and it's annoying as I don't want all my files downloaded on my laptop (256GB SSD), when the originals are kept on my desktop (with a 2TB SSD).

But I want to choose which files to remove, and I want the security of having them on iCloud.

Come on Apple - sort it out! (Unless I'm being thick and someone can tell me what I'm missing 🤪)

 

[SoYoung]

Strange they remove one of the best feature of last year release. Hope its just a bug... Again, all the youtubers don't mention anything on this and all they said is OMG best update ever!!11!!1...

Same thing happened with iOS 17 and videos swapping gestures for Rewind and forwarding.

 

[chabig]

From The Eclectic Light Company:

• If you have Optimize Mac Storage turned off, Sonoma now enforces the rules as they should have been all along, and won’t let you evict files. This is a long-standing bug that has been fixed at last. As explained in the Help book for Cirrus, if you disable Optimize Mac Storage, then all your files stored in iCloud should also be stored locally. That’s good news for when you want to search them, or back them up. However, enforcement of this may come as a surprise to those who have come to rely on the bug.

 

[SoYoung]

lol a Bug that other cloud services called basic feature for years and a big reason why iCloud storage is Still far behind.

 

[moses.chisale]

I've got a substantial amount of media stored on my iCloud, which I've downloaded to my Mac for easy access. The "Remove Download" feature used to be a lifesaver by letting me free up space on my Mac while keeping everything stored in the cloud to re-download later.

I REALLY HOPE THIS IS A BUG.

I hope someone on the Apple team realizes just how valuable this feature is to users like us and considers bringing it back (if it was intentionally removed).

 

[eas]

This angers me greatly. I haven't upgraded to Sonoma yet and this is going to make it more difficult.

Apple "fixing" this "bug" reduces the utility of both iCloud and my Macs.

My wife already despises storage optimization for music and photos. Being forced to use it for files or upgrade to a device with more storage isn't going to go over well. I'm not happy about it, but Apple has put me in the position of being the bearer of bad news.

I hope someone on the Apple team realizes just how valuable this feature is to users like us and considers bringing it back (if it was intentionally removed).

I expect they know the value and are looking forward to the increased revenue in hardware upgrades they'll get in exchange for destroying 100x as much value for the users who took advantage of the old behavior.

Apple keeps doing things that have me looking for the exits, but I haven't left, yet. The fact that the alternatives are worse doesn't make me feel better about Apple, it makes me feel worse. I used to be happy to be an Apple customer, now I resent it.