iCloud errors

[lizzieh]

i put photos and docs in my iCloud Drive folder on my MacBook Pro, but they don't show up in the iCloud app on my iPad.

Any advice please?

 

[J. A.]

On your Mac, go to System Preferences - iCloud, click Options next to iCloud Drive and make sure it's turned on.

 

[lizzieh]

Thanks for the answer.
It is on. I see different files and folders in all three of my devices, my Mac, iPad and iPhone!

 

[J. A.]

Which software is running on your Mac? You need macOS Sierra to get files from your Mac to iCloud Drive.

When you login to www.icloud.com, which files do you see there in your iCloud Drive folder?

 

[scifan57]

Do you have the iCloud Drive app on your iPad? Your photos should be there.

 

[lizzieh]

I have the correct software and apps.

Is there anywhere I can get a simple explanation as to how iCloud drive works and iCloud photo storage?

I am confused by it all, despite being a mac user for the past 4 years!

 

[scifan57]

Here's the page on iCloud Drive. iCloud - iCloud Drive

Here's the page for iCloud Photo Library.
iCloud Photo Library

 

[brixtonboy]

Here's the page on iCloud Drive. iCloud - iCloud Drive

Here's the page for iCloud Photo Library.
iCloud Photo Library

Useful links thanks

 

[lizzieh]

Thanks for the links and advice.

 

[lizzieh]

I'm wondering if I want to use iCloud drive - I use dropbox for photos - I wonder what most people do.

It also adds unusable space on my macbook pro.

 

[J. A.]

I use Google Photos and Flickr.

 

[brixtonboy]

Google photos & Dropbox

 

[twerppoet]

I use iCloud Photo Library. That's not the same as iCloud Drive, but it does count against your iCloud Storage.

I often upload photos to Flickr, as a kind of backup. I haven't been good about keeping up with that lately; mostly because the way iCloud Photo Library is working. I have it synced with Photos on my Mac with the keep originals on machine option turned on. Since the Mac is backed up in two places (one local and one online) I'm feeling fairly secure about my library.

 

[lizzieh]

Thanks for all of the above. I find photos on IOS a mystery. I take most on my iPhone, they appear on my iPad and MacBook and iCloud. I only found yesterday 1000's literally of photos on iCloud and there was no quick way to delete them. I've now turned off iCloud drive as my photos back up as I take them to Dropbox. Any documents I produce also go into Dropbox until I back them up to my two external hard drives.

 

[twerppoet]

Turning off iCloud Drive won't stop photos from going to iCloud from your devices. It's iCloud Library (under Photos' settings) that automatically stores your photos in iCloud.

• iCloud is an nearly all encompasing term that includes pretty much every storage, syncing, backup solution by Apple.
• iCloud Storage is the the free and/or payed for storage attached to yoru iCloud account. Some services count agains't that limit, and some do not.
• iCloud Drive is a folder-system-like service that is hosted on Apple's iCloud Servers and syncs between your devices and computers. It counts against your iCloud Storage.
• iCloud Photo Library is a photo and video library hosted on Apple's iCloud Servers and synced between your devices and computers. It counts against your iCloud Storage. It is not part of iCloud Drive's folder system.

And many other services, including Music, iBooks, backups, Mail, Calendars, Reminders, Notes; all have some iCloud components. Some free, some payed for, and some so nearly transparent you won't even realize they are using iCloud unless something goes wrong.

Anyway, if you don't want your Photos library in iCloud, it's the iCloud Photo Library that needs turned off.