Work with folders and files in iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive appears in the Finder sidebar, where you can select it to see its contents. It contains folders created automatically for the apps that support iCloud Drive, such as Preview, TextEdit, Pages, Numbers and Keynote. It can also contain folders you create and files you save or move into iCloud Drive or its folders.
iCloud Drive also contains your desktop and documents folders, if you selected Desktop & Documents Folders in iCloud preferences.
WARNING: When you turn on iCloud Drive to update your Desktop and Documents folders, turn off any other third-party app or cloud service that syncs your Desktop or Documents folder. Syncing by other third-party apps or cloud services can interfere with or stop the updating performed by iCloud Drive.
You can also use iCloud Drive on iCloud.com from a web browser on a Mac or Windows computer.
To set up iCloud drive using an iOS or iPadOS device, Windows PC or on iCloud.com, see the Apple Support article Set up iCloud Drive.
Add documents to folders
When iCloud Desktop & Documents Folders is turned on, your folders and files may appear with status indicators next to the folder or file names in Finder windows. See Get file, folder and disk information.
You can create folders within those folders, but each app folder can only contain documents the app can open. For example, the Preview folder can contain PDFs and different kinds of image files but not a movie or a music file.
On your Mac, select iCloud Drive in the Finder sidebar.
Drag documents into the app folders in iCloud Drive.
Tip: You can use iCloud Drive when you save a new document or open a document in an app. Just select iCloud Drive in the Save dialogue or Open dialogue that appears after you choose File > Save or File > Open.
Download items stored only in iCloud Drive to your Mac
In some cases, items may be stored in iCloud Drive and not yet downloaded to your Mac.
Control-click the items that you want to download (indicated by the In iCloud status icon
).Choose Download Now.
After the items are on your Mac, you can work with them without an Internet connection.
Move items to your Mac and remove them from iCloud Drive
On your Mac, drag items from iCloud drive to another folder in the Finder sidebar or on the desktop, such as Downloads, Movies, Music and Pictures.
The items are copied to your Mac and removed from iCloud Drive on all your devices set up for iCloud. If you change your mind, you can drag items back to iCloud Drive.