iCloud Drive - Desktop & Documents Folders

[twanj]

Somewhere in this Thread is the answer to my question, but I can't quite figure it out.

My question is......Sometimes when I want to upload a document from my iCloud Drive, I can't find the iCloud drive in my side bar! Where is my iCloud Drive! Thanks.

do you mean sometimes it shows up in the sidebar & sometimes not, or you never see it?

Finder Preferences > Sidebar tab, check iCloud Drive?

 

[997440]

You're missing my point completely. If I want to remove myself from the iCloud ecosystem completely, simply turning it off or logging out should not delete anything from the Mac, it should delete it from iCloud.

Doesn't @Ritsuka's screenshot indicate that you can opt to keep copies on your Mac?

 

[jusacruiser]

Twanj.......Thanks for your input......I did not solve the problem, but figured out a work around.....the document that I wanted to attach, i put on my desktop.....so I was able to grab it from there and upload. But as to why the iCloud drive does not conveniently present itself in the side bar when i want to access documents during the upload process....I have no clue.

 

[grahamperrin]

Doesn't @Ritsuka's screenshot indicate that you can opt to keep copies on your Mac?

Yes.

If I understand correctly, @MacGizmo requires an option that's not offered: Remove from iCloud Drive (or words to that effect).

 

[997440]

Yes.

If I understand correctly, @MacGizmo requires an option that's not offered: Remove from iCloud Drive (or words to that effect).

Thanks for clearing up my confusion. Now I understand your answer about the web interface.

 

[smokesletsgo]

I don't understand this new "feature". It's literally the same as putting your files to iCloud Drive folder. How is this new or even a feature? It's soooo gimmicky, if you want to let users synch their files to iCloud without moving anything why not just let to choose which folders to synch to iCloud? Nooo, it has to be "Documents and Desktop synch", it's like grade school computer class, sounds so stupid and unsophisticated.

 

[grahamperrin]

… the same as putting your files to iCloud Drive folder. How is this new or even a feature? It's soooo gimmicky, if you want to let users synch their files to iCloud without moving anything why not just let to choose which folders to synch to iCloud? Nooo, it has to be "Documents and Desktop synch", it's like grade school computer class, sounds so stupid and unsophisticated.

It's different. Have you tested the feature?

 

[cRuNcHiE]

Ok so i've just installed Sierra and i'm a little confused by this feature! how come it is not syncing the one drive folder that is in my "Documents" folder, but is syncing parallels?

I don't want it to sync my virtual machines!
Surely they need a way to exclude certain folders from uploading to iCloud, and somehow the one drive folder is excluded.

 

[grahamperrin]

… somehow the one drive folder is excluded.

It's reasonable to assume that Apple made a design decision. Compare with the OneDrive post earlier in this topic: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/23109890

… I don't want it to sync my virtual machines!

Surely they need a way to exclude certain folders from uploading to iCloud, …

Which virtualisation product(s) do you use? The developers of those products should have known, more than a decade ago, to not misuse ~/Documents

 

[grahamperrin]

I performed a clean installation of 16A201w and allowed Setup Assistant to use iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents Folders.

Twelve minutes after login: nothing in either folder. No on-screen explanation for the emptiness, which is potentially disconcerting, but I didn't expect 16A201w to be polished.

After maybe ten of those twelve minutes, a dotted cloud icon appeared against both folders in a Finder column view of iCloud Drive. With icon view there's no such hint.

A Finder view of All My Files showed a handful of files from a container for one iCloud-enabled application, so I'm certain that data is downloading.


Postscripts

The update to Developer Beta 8 (not a golden master) is installing. I'll add to this post some time after that and all other updates are installed.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/23337636 under How Stable is it? mentioned a ~1 GB test set of data. Some of what follows suggests that truly, the test set comprised more than 2 GB of data. Sorry for the mistaken recollection – in the weeks that passed whilst waiting for upload to complete, I probably lost all interest in measurement :-/


Loss of data

.textClipping files

Maybe excluded because the data fork of a Mac OS X text clipping is, by design, zero bytes …

Some time later, at the Mac where the data originated, it seemed to me that the exclusion no longer applied. More specifically: there was no icon or other form of warning to suggest a problem with acceptance of text clippings.

Now – since I performed a clean installation of the OS and entrusted the contents of my Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive – it seems that all clippings were effectively lost. Thankfully the data is elsewhere (not entrusted to Apple's services alone) but I always treat silent loss of data, or metadata, as unacceptable.

sh-3.2$ date ; uptime ; sw_vers
Sat 10 Sep 2016 14:02:32 BST
14:02  up  3:38, 2 users, load averages: 1.53 1.51 1.42
ProductName:   Mac OS X
ProductVersion:   10.12
BuildVersion:   16A313a
sh-3.2$ cd /Users/grahamperrin/Documents
sh-3.2$ find . -name "*.textClipping" -print
./2008/SuperDuper! and Data.fs/Last login- Tue Sep 23 22-44.textClipping
./2008/SuperDuper! and Data.fs/SuperDuper! and Data.textClipping
sh-3.2$ cd /Volumes/Graham/gjp22/Documents/2008
sh-3.2$ find . -name "*.textClipping" -print
./[omnium-~] admin% sudo :Appl.textClipping
./CAUTION with the msg4 address.textClipping
./CENTRIM-C/httpd log tail.textClipping
./CENTRIM-C/system.log tail.textClipping
./GCC.textClipping
./Getting distribution for 'py.textClipping
./shortly before 13-51 --http-.textClipping
./SuperDuper! and Data.fs/Last login- Tue Sep 23 22-44.textClipping
./SuperDuper! and Data.fs/SuperDuper! and Data.textClipping
sh-3.2$

In that example:

• at ~/Documents/2008 only two .textClipping files survived (within a directory that was interpreted as a bundle because long before upload to iCloud Drive, in Finder I allowed the name of the directory to end with .fs)
• neither of the surviving .textClipping files has any content.

… although zero-data-byte .webloc (Web internet location) files – produced by drag and drop from apps such as Safari – are eligible (but presented as binary files in the web interface to iCloud Drive; the web browser can not tell the location until after Mac OS X has downloaded and decoded the content).

Now I realise: the Web internet location files stored by iCloud Drive are useless when opened at a Mac other than the one where the files originated. Safari launches but there's nothing more than an empty window to the web, and then Finder is brought to front.

Given those two examples of loss, it's resasonable to assume that some other types of file are subject to dataloss when entrusted to Apple's service. Did anyone test .pictClipping (Picture Clipping) files?

I hope that someone noticed bugs such as those, and fed them to Apple in good time …


Afterthought

Maybe those dataloss bugs are already fixed. It's possible that my data was uploaded, and suffered from the losses, before fixes were made.


Rough notes to self



2016-09-09 around 07:45:

• 54 aliases, 4 applications, 13,090 documents, 1,591 folders
• 2,482,631,535 bytes (2.52 GB on disk)

 

[rezwits]

I'm having a problem with Custom Icons, on Server folders boo hoo hoo hoo

One day...

 

[The JTizzle]

Mines taking for ever to upload. Does it only upload at night or when the computer is idle?

 

[rezwits]

Constantly (as long as your other system is up), and I believe with powerNap...gonna get some confirm on this in a little as soon as I goto Starbucks wth my BAGGED MacBook Air. Like when I can home from Starbucks today, as soon as I woke my rMBP15/15 the folder and webarchive, I created at Starbucks, just popped up in like under 3 seconds. I waiting to see if I make significant changes, that when I goto Starbucks on Sunday, dang NFL... well we'll see on Monday or Tuesday, if a sitting in the bag MacBook Air, will update over the weekend. While I use my rMBP. I really hope PowerNap kicks in...I'll go check some google, might be hard to find reports...

 

[The JTizzle]

I just realized 2 things, The update reset my power settings so I think it was going into a deep sleep and not uploading, so I fixed that. 2nd, my time machine backup was running and possibly forces a pause. Regardless my backup is now done, and the iCD its cranking and i'm 4 of 55 gigs in now

 

[rezwits]

yeah I don't know why they reset all the power settings on every Mac, with Sierra, I had a Mac Pro that is SPECIFICALLY not supposed to sleep ever, and screen started sleeping I was like HEY! then put that RIGHT BACK!

 

[digitalfx]

I had "optimize storage" selected for about 30 minutes before I realized it was removing files from my drive. How do I identify all the files no longer on my computer in iCloud so I can bulk move them back short of searching every single folder on my desktop and documents?

 

[rezwits]

I had "optimize storage" selected for about 30 minutes before I realized it was removing files from my drive. How do I identify all the files no longer on my computer in iCloud so I can bulk move them back short of searching every single folder on my desktop and documents?

If it has a cloud icon with an arrow pointing down it's not on your ssd/hd drive, if it's just a cloud icon, that means it updating the cloud. If you click the down/cloud it should download too...

 

[grahamperrin]

… "optimize storage" … How do I identify all the files no longer on my computer in iCloud …

Please subscribe to Optimized Storage reports? – I'll reply there.

… for ever to upload. …

Some of the relevant information is spread across topics such as iCloud Drive document sync stuck?, where I made a few posts about the weeks that passed before apparent completion of upload of my first small test set of data.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/23353701 above promised an update. In a few minutes I'll switch computers and make the update to that post.

@The JTizzle if you can, use Feedback Assistant to gather what's appropriate and include with your feedback a note of where you are, geographically. I guess that during these last few days of pre-release, Apple will work with the content delivery network (CDN) service providers to identify problem areas that are revealed by the spikes in traffic that followed the first announcements of golden masters.

 

[grahamperrin]

… problem with Custom Icons, on Server folders …

Is the customisation completely missing when the folders (on the iCloud service) are viewed, with Finder, at a Mac other than the Mac where the icons originated?

If so, then please see my postcript above https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/23353701 with the red alerts about dataloss.

… If it has a cloud icon with an arrow pointing down it's not on your ssd/hd drive, …

If you click the down/cloud it should download …

I recall the down arrows from the early days. I assumed that each arrow was an invitation to download, but things around that time were so messy, I could not draw any conclusion.

In retrospect: if that's true – down arrow = invitation to download – then I can think of no logical explanation for appearances of the arrows. My best guess now: the arrows, in the early days, were bugs.

… if it's just a cloud icon, that means it updating the cloud.

That's less intuitive.

Are the meanings documented in help for Finder?

 

[robeddie]

Everyone, please dont use icloud. Its crap and many tech experts, including John Siracusa avoid it like the plague.
Use somthing else or not at all, certainly dont trust your data with it.

 

[grahamperrin]

I can't describe iCloud Drive as crap, but I am concerned that this new feature might have generated not enough feedback to Apple during the test period.

 

[Icaras]

Everyone, please dont use icloud. Its crap and many tech experts, including John Siracusa avoid it like the plague.
Use somthing else or not at all, certainly dont trust your data with it.

It isn't crap. I trust it. No issues here.

 

[grahamperrin]

No issues here.

To anyone who has two or more Macs: I'd like to know whether the data loss bug has been fixed.

Drag some text, from e.g. TextEditor, to the desktop of one Mac. Then if the text clipping file appears at the other Mac, see whether the file contains what's required.

 

[Icaras]

To anyone who has two or more Macs: I'd like to know whether the data loss bug has been fixed.

Drag some text, from e.g. TextEditor, to the desktop of one Mac. Then if the text clipping file appears at the other Mac, see whether the file contains what's required.

Oh, I only have my one iMac so I am unable to test that. But between my iOS devices and my iMac, it's been working great so far.
[doublepost=1473620185][/doublepost]

iCloud Desktop and Documents is great if you have several devices. it allows you to have the same work access environment on any device.

Storage Optimization (not the Desktop and Documents feature) is also interesting however.

it needs to be turned on manually via About this mac / storage. Which means apple does not see this version of it to be used by most users.

it is not designed to be a way to backup.

turning it on does allow you to access the documents that are in the iCloud from all your device.
turning it off does delete it from the device on which you have turned the service off.

in developers documentation it introduces the word "evicted".
if the device you are using has limited space, then apple will evict files to the cloud. meaning it deletes infrequently used files from your device after putting a version in the cloud.

this therefore means that you will have theoretical access to files that are stored locally (files that have been used recently, and therefore not evicted). in which case you can access the local version on your current device.

I recall in the Keynote that apps purchased from the Mac App Store were also included in Storage Optimization, but so far I have not seen any evidence of this being in effect on my iMac. Is this feature even baked into the GM or I wonder if it was removed because it's just not ready yet?

 

[NazgulRR]

This is confusing indeed. Don't mind optimising Photos, iTunes and other stuff, however, Desktop & Documents better be fully offline.

Could someone confirm whether it is possible to have Desktop & Documents synced to iCloud while also having them FULLY downloaded to the Mac at all times (no optimisations going on at all)?