I’ve said on many occasions that the ecosystem is one of Apple’s greatest strengths. Being able to start writing something in my office on my Mac and then continue it in a coffee shop on my iPad, for example. That should Just Work. We shouldn’t need to actively force an iCloud sync.
Dec 11, 2018 Cloud with down arrow indicates that the file is only available in iCloud. Click the cloud icon to download the file to your Mac and sync the content. Accessing iCloud Files. You can access iCloud content in many ways: On your Mac, open Finder app and click on “iCloud Drive”. This will show all the files on your iCloud account. Enable iCloud on Mac OS X. Update to the latest OS X. Select 'System Preferences' from the Apple menu on your Mac. Click iCloud and enter your Apple ID. Then select the services you want to enable. Select Mail in iCloud preferences to get an ad-free iCloud email account. Jul 11, 2017 A new feature in macOS Sierra allows you to sync files from your desktop and Documents folder to iCloud, so you can access them on all your device. However, if you went to disable this feature, it will delete them from your computer. Fear not, though: those files still exist. They were simply removed from the desktop and Documents folder and left in iCloud Drive. Icloud.com; iMac; iMac Pro; iMovie for iOS; Ios 13; iPad in Business and Education; Iphone 11; iPhone 11 Pro; iPhone 11 Pro Max; iPhone Accessories; iPhone Hardware; iPhone in Business and Education; Iphone XR; Iphone XS; iPod classic; iPod nano; iPod shuffle; iPod touch; iTunes U for iOS; Logic Pro X; Mac mini; Mac OS X Technologies; Mac OS X. To set up iCloud on a Mac, you'll need to have the latest version of Mac OS X Lion or Mac OS X Mountain Lion. You'll also need to make sure you're using iTunes 10.5 or higher. If you want to use iCloud Photo Sharing with your computer, you'll need either iPhoto 9.2 or Aperture 3.2 (which you can purchase from the Mac App Store).
Apr 29, 2015 How To + Recommended. ICloud Drive: How to Sync Data Between Mac and iOS. Posted on April 29th, 2015 by Kirk McElhearn One of the useful new features of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite is iCloud Drive, a storage facility that lets you save files and data to the cloud. ICloud Drive lets you store a number of files so that you can access them from all of your Apple devices: your Mac, iPad,. Leave the iCloud System Preferences open as we'll need to use it later. Follow through the next 3 steps to completely remove the local copy of your 'Documents & Data' folder from your Mac in order to force OS X to redownload your iCloud documents.
But, as I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, that isn’t always the case …
iCloud is both Apple’s greatest strength and biggest weakness. When it works, it delivers a variety of different services, but it doesn’t always just work. It falls over far more often than is acceptable in something so fundamental to that ecosystem […]
Things that should be instant sometimes take hours, like creating a new Note on a Mac and waiting for it to appear on an iPad – resulting in ridiculous things like force-quitting the app and going offline and on again in the hope that might spur the app into checking its iCloud repository. And don’t get me started on the Pages document I created on my iPad and then couldn’t access on a plane an hour or two later because the device had apparently offloaded it to iCloud and not retained a local copy.
I have to say that things have improved dramatically since I wrote those pieces. Most times, things sync within seconds or a few minutes. But still not always.
A colleague this morning experienced another example I’ve encountered myself. You create a new playlist in the Music app on your iPhone, then open up iTunes on the Mac and it’s nowhere to be seen. In his case, quitting and restarting the app didn’t work. Nor did switching iCloud Music off and on again. Nor signing out of iCloud and back in again.
At some point, it will happen, but there’s no telling when, and no reliable way to force an update. So users are forced to try random things: closing and reopening documents, force-quitting and re-opening apps, iCloud logout/login and even device restarts. All without any ability to predict which – if any – of them will do the trick.
I do get Apple’s goal here. Syncing should Just Work, so there shouldn’t need to be any user intervention. That’s why there’s no sync button in iCloud apps.
And I’m not actually asking for one. That would work in some apps, like Pages and Notes, but it would be out of place in things like iTunes – and there just isn’t the screen space in iPhone apps like Music.
How to force an iCloud sync
But I do think we need some way to force an app to consult iCloud and check for updates. My suggestion here would be a new universal gesture. That way, it is available in any app without cluttering up the UI.
Ideally, using this gesture should tell the current app to immediately sync with iCloud, but also send a message to all other devices signed into the same Apple ID to do likewise.
If not a gesture, then a Control Center button that tells all currently open apps to sync.
Yes, that would involve Apple tacitly admitting that sometimes things don’t Just Work – but Apple frequently says that its decisions are all about the best user experience. Indeed, Tom Cook reiterated the point over the weekend.
We focus on the customer, and always ask ourselves, “What more can we do for the customer?”
iCloud syncing is a good example of where the customer experience is more important than Apple’s blushes.
What’s your view? Would you like to have a simple and reliable way to force an iCloud sync? Do you have any thoughts as to the best way to achieve it? Please take our poll and share your thoughts in the comments.
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Before you begin
- Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the latest iOS or iPadOS, and your Mac to the latest macOS.
- Set up iCloud on all of your devices.
- Make sure that you’re signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on all of your devices.
- If you have a Windows PC, update to Windows 7 or later and download iCloud for Windows.
If you have a device that can't update to the latest iOS or macOS, see the minimum system requirements to use iCloud Drive.
Get started
Set up iCloud Drive everywhere that you want to access and edit your files.
On your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
- Go to Settings > [your name].
- Tap iCloud.
- Turn on iCloud Drive.
You can find your iCloud Drive files in the Files app.
If you're using iOS 10 or iOS 9, tap Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Turn on iCloud Drive, and tap Show on Home Screen. Then you'll find your files in the iCloud Drive app.
On your Mac
- Go to Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Apple ID. If you’re using macOS Mojave or earlier, you don’t need to click Apple ID.
- Select iCloud.
- Sign in with your Apple ID, if you need to.
- Select iCloud Drive.
If you want to add the files from your Mac Desktop and Documents folder to iCloud Drive, update your Mac to macOS Sierra or later then turn on Desktop and Documents. On your Mac, you can find the files on your Desktop and in your Documents folder in Finder under iCloud. If you add a second Mac Desktop, the files from your second Mac won't automatically merge with the files on your first Mac. Go to your Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud Drive, then look for a folder with the same name as your second Mac.
On iCloud.com
- Sign in to iCloud.com.
- Select Pages, Numbers, or Keynote.
- Click Upgrade to iCloud Drive, if you are asked to upgrade.
Icloud Drive Not Syncing Mac
On your Windows PC
After you set up iCloud Drive on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, you can set it up on your Windows PC.
- Go to Start, open Apps or Programs, and open iCloud for Windows.
- Enter your Apple ID to sign in to iCloud.
- Select iCloud Drive, then click Apply.
How To Start Icloud Sync
What's next
After you set up iCloud Drive, any documents that you've already stored in iCloud are automatically moved to iCloud Drive. Your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch keep your files in the Files app in addition to the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps. If you don't see your files in these apps, they might be on a device that doesn't have iCloud Drive turned on.
Outlook Mac Sync Icloud Contacts
Learn more about using iCloud Drive.