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As a newbie to Macs I thought putting files into iCloud would save me SSD space, but now I see that is not the case. I also have Dropbox and I was wondering if there is a way to transfer files from iCloud to Dropbox and use Dropbox's selective sync option to keep some of the files stored there from cluttering up my SSD.

Early 2015 MacBook Air, 128 GB SSD, OS X 10.11.5 "El Capitan".

RedEagle2000
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crbnstein
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1 Answers1

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You could just drag the files from the iCloud folder to the DropBox folder.

Do them a bit at a time to ensure that you have enough disk space to complete the transfer.

If your available disk space is less than the size of the largest file on your iCloud Drive (i.e. you have few, very large files) - you could upload it on the DropBox web site to store it in Dropbox without requiring extra local storage right away.

jksoegaard
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  • that was very helpful, but there is one folder containing many files that I want to put into a designated dropbox folder of the same name. Otherwise each individual folder will just take a place in Dropbox by its alphabetical title. Can you suggest a way to move the entire folder at once? – crbnstein Jul 30 '16 at 23:26
  • Meant to say Otherwise each individual FILE will just take a place in Dropbox by its alphabetical title. And there are 11,295 items in the folder I want to move 2.4 GB. – crbnstein Jul 30 '16 at 23:30
  • You just open the Dropbox folder, and then drag all the files from that iCloud Drive folder over. You can select all the elements at once by using Cmd-a. – jksoegaard Jul 31 '16 at 07:34
  • The Cmd-a function did not transfer all the subfolders along with the main folder. It is a quick way to transfer each of the subfolder, but there are so many of them that it is becoming tedious. Is there some way that I can just transfer the whole main folder and all the subfolders move also? – crbnstein Jul 31 '16 at 21:22
  • Just drag the main folder over and it should transfer all its files and subfolders. Cmd-a definitely selects both files and subfolders. If this is not working for you, please describe exactly what you do and what you see on screen. – jksoegaard Aug 01 '16 at 07:18
  • In DropBox, I am opening the folder ("Recycling') to upload to, then I click on the Upload icon at the top of the Dropbox page. This gives me a dialog box that says "Upload to Dropbox Choose files to upload to the folder ‘Recycling’. You can select more than one file at a time. You can also drag and drop files anywhere on this page to start uploading. Having problems? Try the basic uploader. Choose files Cancel" – crbnstein Aug 01 '16 at 19:29
  • Then I go to ICloud and I click on the folder ("Recycling") and it opens the whole list of files and subfolders. I hold down "command" and "a" at the same time and in the list of files and subfolders, only the files are highlighted, meaning they are the only ones that will transfer over The subfolders do not. – crbnstein Aug 01 '16 at 19:31
  • Ah, you didn't say you were using the web uploader. If you want to transfer many smaller files and subfolders, use the desktop client. I.e. just drag the files from the Dropbox folder to the iCloud Drive folder on your Mac. Don't use the web client. – jksoegaard Aug 01 '16 at 19:38
  • That worked! thank you so much jksoegaard for staying with me until I got it. I wish I understood how to vote for you! – crbnstein Aug 02 '16 at 11:32
  • To the left of my answer, you'll see an up and down arrow. Below the down arrow is a gray checkmark. Click it, and it will turn green! – jksoegaard Aug 02 '16 at 12:13
  • I just discovered that the subfolders did not in fact transfer. Very disappointed. I wasn't able to take a screenshot but I did get a photo, but now I can't figure out how to attach it here. – crbnstein Aug 03 '16 at 00:06