Some suggestions for iCloud Drive users

[Gianni Becattini]

I hope that the following notes can be useful for somebody. I don't pretend to teach anybody, they are just some notes on my experiences.

I have three Macs:

• A MacBook Pro M2
• An iMac i9
• An old MacPro 3.2, used only as backup. Each day, at 12 o’clock, it switches on, synchronises with iCloud and execute Time Machine on an internal but logically external drive, then switches off. In this way, also in case of some strange iCloud behaviour, I can go back in Time Machine and restore a lost file. All that has one day resolution, so it does not work inside the last 24 hours.

 

iCloud has always used to be a wonderful thing and a terrible thing. Wonderful, because it allows me to use the two computers indifferently, terrible because from time to time it does something wrong with terrible consequences and I have a very little control over it.

 

In addition it has some un-understandable attitude. For example, after the Sonoma update, on the MacBook downloaded more times all the iCloud content without any reason.

 

Typical problem are instead:

• Missing sync - this is the more dangerous, because you start editing a non-updated file and then a conflict arises. Sometimes iCloud understands this condition and warns you, sometimes updates the old file with the new, destroying your work. So, always close your work before changing Mac and wait to be sure that iCloud is synced before switching it off.  Going on the other Mac, check the file timestamp to be sure that you are working on the right version.
• Forcing sync - Not always iCloud syncs with the cloud and Apple does not provide a way to force it, but you can “entice” iCloud. Here some tricks:
  • Just duplicate a file on your desktop; 
  • Go in Photo and check that photos are syncing. If it says that sync is paused, reactivate it by clicking the reactivate message;
  • Double click the icon on the iCloud line on any Finder window sidebar.
• Unlock upload - this is one of the worst problems and is very common. iCloud sticks saying, e.g.,  “Uploading 2 files 0 bytes of 2.1M) This can help:

The problem is the dashed cloud (Waiting to Upload). When it happens that locks, it is possible that the problem stays there for days. The only solution I found is to identify the offending files (with the dashed cloud) and then moving them to a folder outside iCloud. It asks you permission and when no other locked file is present, it should say sync OK (clicking on the iCloud Pie Chart icon on a Finder window).

At this point you can move back your files to their place and normally they are synced correctly.

 

Another good suggestion is to check the iCloud situation on the web, so that you can understand if the source Mac didn’t sync or the cloud is synced and the problem is in the destination Mac.

 

From the Affinity point of view, it happens that sometime a file is not yet synced and it syncs when Affinity tries to use it. That could trigger some strange situation and Affinity hangs, so that you are forced to kill it, and that, by its side, sometimes leaves something in an intermediate state that will affect future executions (the best in this case is to reboot). The best solution  is to work on non-iCloud folders or to be sure that every file is synced before Affinity uses it.

 

Until now, for me, the iCloud benefits are greater than drawbacks. What I cannot understand is why Apple is not interested in iCloud improvements. Few changes could give the user a better information about iCloud Drive activity or, even better, some few control possibilities. 

 

But it seems like new backgrounds or emoticons are more requested by the users….