How To Turn Off Icloud Photo Library On Mac

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How To Turn Off Icloud Photo Library On Mac 3,9/5 4229 votes

Optimized Storage on the Mac can help reduce the amount of space that data takes up on your hard drive, but it also takes up iCloud storage space. You can adjust some of the settings for what is stored in iCloud in order to save some space in your iCloud storage.

How to stop syncing Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud on your Mac

If you've tried out Desktop and Documents folder syncing in iCloud but decided you don't like it, you can stop syncing. If you disable syncing, Desktop files will no longer appear on a secondary Mac computer's desktop, but they will still be in a file in iCloud Drive, which you can move them out of. Your Documents folder will also still be visible in iCloud Drive, which you can also move.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Click System Preferences in the drop down menu.

  3. Click on iCloud.
  4. Click on Options next to iCloud Drive.

  5. Click to uncheck the checkbox for Desktop & Documents Folders.

Question: Q: If I turn off ICloud photo library do photos remain on my mac in photos and Iphot. I would like to turn off ICloud photo library, but want to know if the photos in Iphoto and photos on my Mac will remain there. If there are on my Mac, will they remain if I disable. Jun 21, 2018  To turn off iCloud Photo Library on a Mac: Go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. Click on the iCloud pane. Select Options next to Photos. Uncheck the box next to iCloud Photo Library. That will stop your Mac using iCloud Photo Library, but it won’t stop photos you take on your iPhone or iPad being backed up to iCloud.

How to disable Optimized Storage on your Mac

Optimized Storage automatically removes iTunes movies and TV shows that you've already watched from your Mac. It also only keeps recent email attachments on your Mac when your hard drive starts to run out of room. If you want to keep your movies and TV shows on your hard drive so you don't have to re-download them every time you want to watch them, you can disable the feature.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Select System Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. Click on iCloud.
  4. Click on Options next to iCloud Drive.
  5. Click to uncheck the checkbox at the bottom of the window for Optimize Mac Storage.
  6. Click on Done when you are finished.

How to disable Empty Trash Automatically on your Mac

I can't see any reason to not use the Empty Trash Automatically feature, but if you worry that you are going to delete something from your Mac and need it back more than 30 days later, you can disable the feature and go back to manually emptying the trash.

Encountered

  1. Open a Finder window.
  2. Click on Finder in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  3. Click Preferences in the drop down menu.

  4. Click on Advanced in the Finder Preferences window.

  5. Click to uncheck the checkbox for Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.

    Photo library download. By default, the photos and videos you import into Photos are stored in the Photos library in the Pictures folder on your Mac. When you first use Photos, you create a new library or select the library that you want to use. This library automatically becomes your System Photo Library. See System Photo Library. Apr 01, 2020  Follow these steps to designate a System Photo Library: Quit Photos. Hold down the Option key and open Photos. One of the photo libraries is already designated as YourLibraryName (System Photo Library). Choose the library you want to designate as the System Photo Library. After Photos opens the.

How to customize what apps are stored in iCloud on your Mac

If your iCloud storage is starting to get full, you can select which apps and programs store data, clearing out space for more important data that you need to access all of the time.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Click System Preferences in the drop down menu.

  3. Click on iCloud.

  4. Click on Options next to iCloud Drive.

  5. Click to uncheck the checkbox for each app whose data you do not wish to store in iCloud.

  6. Click Done when finished.

Note: Since the apps will no longer sync with iCloud, some features will be disabled, so make sure you want to remove their access to iCloud.

How to manage files and folders stored in iCloud on the Mac

You may want to keep some, or all of your apps synced with iCloud, but don't need to keep all of the files and folders that are saved in them. You can reduce some of the storage used up by removing unneeded data.

  1. Open a Finder window.

  2. Select iCloud Drive from the sidebar.

  3. Double-click a folder to view its contents.
  4. Select a file that you want to delete. You can select multiple files at once.
  5. Right-click or Control-click on the files.
  6. Select Move to trash to delete them.

You can also move files out of iCloud Drive and into another folder. Just make sure the folder you move files to isn't also being stored in iCloud.

How to stop using iCloud Photo Library on the Mac

For some, the Photo library is the biggest space hog in iCloud. It is incredibly convenient to store your pictures in the cloud and be able to access them from any device without having to use up hard drive space (or in the case of the iPhone and iPad, device storage space), but it is also a burden on your iCloud storage limit. You can turn off iCloud Photo Library on all of your devices, which is inconvenient but frees up a lot of space in iCloud.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Select System Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. Click on iCloud.

  4. Click on Manage in the bottom right corner of the iCloud window.

  5. Click on Photo Library from the sidebar.

  6. Click on Disable and Delete.

How to download photos and videos from iCloud

You'll have to manually download content that you previously stored in the iCloud Photo Library. You will have 30 days to download all of your photos and videos from iCloud Drive onto your Mac (you can also download them directly onto your iPhone or iPad, but I don't suggest doing that since they take up so much space).

  1. Launch the Photos app.

  2. Click on Photos in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  3. Click Preferences in the drop down menu.

  4. Click on Download Originals to this Mac.

How to delete iPhone and iPad iCloud backups on the Mac

When you back up your iPhone or iPad in iCloud, the most recent backups are stored there. Backups take up a few GB of space each, which can add up if you have multiple iOS devices. You can, instead, backup your device to your computer using iTunes. If you choose to save your backups on your computer, you can delete them from iCloud.

Note: When you delete a backup from iCloud, you will also be turning off the ability to use iCloud to back up your device. You will have to switch back to iCloud backups if you change your mind later.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Click System Preferences in the drop down menu.

  3. Click iCloud.

  4. Click Manage in the bottom right corner of the iCloud window.

  5. Click Backups from the sidebar.

  6. Select a backup to delete.

  7. Click Delete.

  8. Click Delete when prompted to confirm that you wish to delete the backup and turn off iCloud back ups.

How to free up space used by the Mail app on the Mac

If you use the built-in Mail app on your Mac, you might be clogging up your iCloud storage with useless junk and deleted mail. You can quickly clear out some space by erasing the old stuff.

Turn Off Icloud Photo Library On Mac

  1. Launch the Mail app on your Mac.

  2. Click on Mailbox in the upper left side of your Mac's screen.

  3. Select Erase Deleted Items from the drop down menu.
  4. Select iCloud.

  5. Click on Erase when prompted to confirm that you want to erase the deleted items in your iCloud mailbox.

  6. Select Erase Junk Mail.

  7. Click on Erase when prompted to confirm that you want to erase the junk mailbox.

How To Turn Off Icloud Photo Library On Mac Desktop

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about how to disable or customize the Optimized Storage features on your Mac? Let me know in the comments and I'll help you out.

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How it works

iCloud Photos automatically keeps every photo and video you take in iCloud, so you can access your library from any device, anytime you want. Any changes you make to your collection on one device change on your other devices too. Your photos and videos are organized into Years, Months, Days, and All Photos.And all of your Memories and People are updated everywhere. That way you can quickly find the moment, family member, or friend you're looking for.

Your collection uploads to iCloud each time your device connects to Wi-Fi and your battery is charged. When you have iOS 11 or later, your library can update over cellular too. Depending on your Internet speed, the time it takes for you to see your photos and videos on all of your devices and iCloud.com might vary.

Before you begin

  1. Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the latest iOS or iPadOS, your Mac to the latest macOS, and your Apple TV to the latest tvOS.
  2. Set up iCloud on all of your devices.
  3. Make sure that you’re signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on all of your devices that you want to use with iCloud Photos.
  4. If you have a Windows PC, update to Windows 7 or later and download iCloud for Windows.

Turn on iCloud Photos

  • On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then turn on iCloud Photos.
  • On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Apple ID. Click iCloud in the sidebar, then select Photos. If you have an earlier version of macOS, go to System Preferences > iCloud. Click Options next to Photos, then select iCloud Photos.
  • On Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > iCloud. Then turn on iCloud Photos.
  • On your Windows PC, follow these steps.

Icloud Photos Disable And Delete

In earlier versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and iCloud for Windows, iCloud Photos was called iCloud Photo Library.

See your edits on all of your devices

When you make edits in the Photos app on your iOS or iPadOS device or on your Mac, the photo automatically updates across all your devices. So when you crop or enhance a photo from your iPhone, you see the changes when you access your library from your Mac. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and you can go back to them at any time, and revert any changes you made.

The photos and videos that you delete on one device are deleted everywhere that you use iCloud Photos. Photos and videos stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before they're deleted permanently.

You can make edits on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, and you’ll see them on your Apple TV automatically. Your entire collection is available on Apple TV, including your Memories and shared albums.

File types that you can use with iCloud Photos

Access My Icloud Photo Library

Your photos and videos are stored in iCloud exactly as you took them. All of your images are held in their original formats at full resolution — HEIF, JPEG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, HEVC, and MP4 — as well as special formats you capture with your iPhone, like slo-mo, time-lapse, 4K videos, and Live Photos.

Back up your photos and videos

When you turn on iCloud Photos, your photos and videos automatically upload to iCloud. They're not duplicated in your iCloud backup, so you should keep backup copies of your library. You can download your photos and videos from iCloud.com to your computer and store them as a separate library, transfer them to another computer with Image Capture or Photos, or store them on a separate drive.

If you're on a device with iOS 11 or later or macOS High Sierra or later, the photos and videos you take are in HEIF and HEVC format. These formats use less storage, with the same quality.

Download your photos and videos

You can download a copy of your original photos or videos on iCloud.com, iOS, iPadOS, or Mac.

  • On iCloud.com, click Photos, then select the photos and videos that you want to download. Click and hold the download button in the upper-right corner of the window. If you want to download your content as it was originally captured or imported, choose Unmodified Original. For JPEG or H.264 format — including edits, and even if it was orginally in HEIF or HEVC format — choose Most Compatible. Click download.
  • On iOS and iPadOS, you can use AirDrop: in the Photos app, select some photos or videos. Tap the share button , then select the device that you want to share with. Learn more about using AirDrop.
  • On Mac, select one or more photos. Drag the content to your desktop, or right-click and select Share > AirDrop.

Make sure that you have enough storage

The photos and videos that you keep in iCloud Photos use your iCloud storage and your device storage. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud and on your device, you can store as many photos and videos as you like.

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more space, you can buy more iCloud storage. Plans start at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month. If you choose 200GB or 2TB plans, you can share your storage with family.

Learn more about plans and prices in your region.

Save space on your device

iCloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

  1. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
  2. Tap Photos.
  3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.

On your Mac:

  1. Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.

If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.

If you turn on Download Originals, iCloud Photos keeps your original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and on your device.

Pause library uploads to iCloud

When you turn on iCloud Photos, the time it takes for your photos and videos to upload to iCloud depends on the size of your collection and your Internet speed. If you have a large collection of photos and videos, your upload might take more time than usual. You can see the status and pause the upload for one day.

  • On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos. You can also open the Photos app, go to the Photos tab, and scroll to the bottom of your screen.
  • On your Mac, open the Photos app. Select Photos in the sidebar, then click All Photos in the list of tabs in the toolbar. Scroll to the bottom of your photos and click Pause.

How To Download Icloud Photos To Pc

Learn more

  • Rediscover favorite and forgotten occasions from your photo library with Memories.
  • Find your missing photos or delete the ones that you don't want anymore.