Help · Mac storage

iCloud Drive taking up space on your Mac?

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 11 October 2026

Files in iCloud Drive are stored in iCloud and, usually, downloaded to your Mac too. That's convenient offline, but it means iCloud doesn't save space on its own. You can keep files in iCloud only, and they download again when you open them.

Removing a download is not deleting. The file stays in iCloud and on your other devices. But deleting a file from iCloud Drive (moving it to the Trash) deletes it everywhere.

Let macOS do it: Optimise Mac Storage

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click your name at the top, then iCloud.
2. Click Drive (called iCloud Drive on some versions of macOS).
3. Turn on Optimise Mac Storage.

macOS then keeps older files in iCloud only when your Mac needs space, and leaves everything downloaded when it doesn't. So the space appears when you need it, not straight away.

Do it yourself: Remove Download

1. In Finder, click iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
2. Select files or folders you don't need on this Mac. Big ones first: switch to list view and sort by Size.
3. Control-click and choose Remove Download.

A cloud icon appears next to the name. To keep something on your Mac even with Optimise Mac Storage on, Control-click it and choose Keep Downloaded.

Don't forget Desktop and Documents

If Desktop & Documents Folders is turned on in iCloud Drive's settings, those folders are part of iCloud Drive too, so the same steps work there.

Other cloud drives

OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box work the same way on current macOS: Control-click a file in their folder and choose Free Up Space or Remove Download (the wording varies). See making cloud files online-only.