How to manage Affinity Files when iPad storage is full.

[Affinity Rat]

I find iPad great for creating and editing files but my iPad storage quickly gets full. Ok, now what?

I have iCloud storage but it doesnt make it easy to delete files from the iPad as the synch will also delete them from the cloud.

Logging out of iCloud doesnt help either, since once logged it will synch deleting files.

So what are some suggestions to handle this dilemma?

The Apple file manager app is hopeless, results in huge waste of effort from curtailed operations leaving. 0 byte files on my destination drive.

It appears all file actions on iPad MUST use the Apple file manager to effect the transfer.

It appears the best solution is not to store any Affinity files on the iPad, create edit then moved them to external storage by any means. It seems Apple file manager usually fails when transferring large numbers of files of very large files at one time.

When using iPad file manager for multiple files it may be better to compress a folder and transfer a single zip file at a time.

 

 

[walt.farrell]

iCloud tries to keep files just in the Cloud unless you reference them on a device. And you can always just long-press on a file in Files, and choose Remove Download, if you've loaded something to your iPad you no longer want.

[Affinity Rat]

So deleting from device (ipad) wont delete corresponding file or copy in the cloud! So its not synchronizing.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, Affinity Rat said:

So deleting from device (ipad) wont delete corresponding file or copy in the cloud!

Deleting should delete.

Remove Download is not Delete.

[Affinity Rat]

Thanx Walt I’m confused, I thought the file was initially created on the ipad, then uploaded a copy to the cloud, so deleting the ipad version is not removing a download, it is deleting a file from the ipad and the Cloud would synch and delete the cloud version.

[walt.farrell]

Just now, Affinity Rat said:

so deleting the ipad version is not removing a download, it is deleting a file from the ipad and the Cloud would synch and delete the cloud version.

Does a long-press on the file in Files give you a Remove Download option, and a Delete option?

[Affinity Rat]

12 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Does a long-press on the file in Files give you a Remove Download option, and a Delete option?

No, I only see Download now, and Delete.

 

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, Affinity Rat said:

No, I only see Download now, and Delete.

 

It sounds like that file is only in the cloud, not physically on your iPad. You should see a cloud icon with a download symbol in Files. So it is not contributing to your storage usage.

[Affinity Rat]

If file was uploaded to the Cloud from another device, then maybe I would have the option to remove download since the file still existed on the original device.

[Affinity Rat]

ok I see, my mistake I was looking at the cloud version, not the local version.

[Affinity Rat]

Once I dowloaded it, I see the 2 options you were referring to but attempting to open it from file manager got this message.

 

So I tried opening it from the Cloud not local iPad copy.

[walt.farrell]

What problem are you trying to solve? If you're out of space, why are you downloading files?

[Affinity Rat]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

What problem are you trying to solve? If you're out of space, why are you downloading files?

I was under the impression the Icloud always synched files, so deleting the source would delete the cloud version.

I have lost files before, which I presumed was the result of a synch when the original source file was no longer in its previous location, ie moved or deleted.

[Affinity Rat]

I thought the Cloud was of limited use since after uploading to Cloud I still couldnt delete the original without also loosing the Cloud version, via the synch.

[walt.farrell]

43 minutes ago, Affinity Rat said:

I thought the Cloud was of limited use since after uploading to Cloud I still couldnt delete the original without also loosing the Cloud version, via the synch.

And that's true, as far as I know. But, as I said, Remove Download is not Delete.

[Affinity Rat]

28 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

And that's true, as far as I know. But, as I said, Remove Download is not Delete.

Ok, finally I get it, it is a file deletion but Apple flags it as a download removal to prevent loss of the Cloud version. 
I was totally unaware of the remove download option, thank you so much!

 

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[Affinity Rat]

Well discovered something my iCloud wasn't synching, Googled it went into settings, yes it was turned on but it seems as it hadnt synched and why I didnt have the option to remove downloads.

 

[Paul Mudditt]

The important thing to remember is iCloud is not a a backup service although confusingly it can hold backups of your devices.

It is the MASTER location for your files and any files on your devices are simply downloaded(or not) copies of your master file.

With optimise storage turned on, rarely used photos or files are removed from your devices and a lower resolution photo or an iCloud link remains to allow you to re-download your file or high resolution image on demand.

Keep your files in iCloud Drive in a folder structure you create, do not store anything in the OnMyiPad area as that is not held in iCloud and just takes up storage space unnecessarily. 

You should then never really run out of device space once you use iCloud unless of course you run out of iCloud space.

Subscribing to more iCloud space is a lot cheaper than having to upgrade your device prematurely and is a lot more secure.

[Affinity Rat]

7 hours ago, Paul Mudditt said:

The important thing to remember is iCloud is not a a backup service although confusingly it can hold backups of your devices.

It is the MASTER location for your files and any files on your devices are simply downloaded(or not) copies of your master file.

With optimise storage turned on, rarely used photos or files are removed from your devices and a lower resolution photo or an iCloud link remains to allow you to re-download your file or high resolution image on demand.

Keep your files in iCloud Drive in a folder structure you create, do not store anything in the OnMyiPad area as that is not held in iCloud and just takes up storage space unnecessarily. 

You should then never really run out of device space once you use iCloud unless of course you run out of iCloud space.

Subscribing to more iCloud space is a lot cheaper than having to upgrade your device prematurely and is a lot more secure.

Thanks Paul great info.

I noticed many of my files are not synched, obviously if the app you create them with has synch turned on they will be synched, but files downloaded or copied from another device wont synch. Not possible to synch these files with using the file app manually to copy them to cloud.

 

 

[Paul Mudditt]

52 minutes ago, Affinity Rat said:

Thanks Paul great info.

I noticed many of my files are not synched, obviously if the app you create them with has synch turned on they will be synched, but files downloaded or copied from another device wont synch. Not possible to synch these files with using the file app manually to copy them to cloud.

 

 

I don’t like the term synched, because that may be the way other systems like dropbox or onedrive works but it certainly isn’t the way iCloud works.

The Affinity apps hold files local in an internal sandbox so they are never uploaded to iCloud, which is why I always tell people to always save your work in an iCloud folder location and close(remove) from the affinity home screen.

I still hope by V3 they will have removed the internal sandbox and replaced with recent files history just like the desktop versions.

[Affinity Rat]

I really dont understand the Apple Cloud, Apples documentation is minimal and havent found a good source to explain anything but the basics.

My icloud has files on it that are not on one of my devices, clicking on the file in the icloud has the option remove download! I thought the remove download option was for removing icloud downloads from local devices.

Icloud telling me to remove download doesnt tell me where or what device it is on.

I have 2 devices, some of the folders are on both devices, but icloud doesnt seem to indicate where device folders are located.

I need a reference to explain how to manage these files. 

Seems like Apple designed ecosystem for people that dont understand anything and so dont provide reference material.

Googling this is not much use, and Apple forum doesnt respond to posts, there are so many post mine are buried below 100s of other posts.

 

Any help appreciated.

[Paul Mudditt]

5 hours ago, Affinity Rat said:

I really dont understand the Apple Cloud, Apples documentation is minimal and havent found a good source to explain anything but the basics.

My icloud has files on it that are not on one of my devices, clicking on the file in the icloud has the option remove download! I thought the remove download option was for removing icloud downloads from local devices.

Icloud telling me to remove download doesnt tell me where or what device it is on.

I have 2 devices, some of the folders are on both devices, but icloud doesnt seem to indicate where device folders are located.

I need a reference to explain how to manage these files. 

Seems like Apple designed ecosystem for people that dont understand anything and so dont provide reference material.

Googling this is not much use, and Apple forum doesnt respond to posts, there are so many post mine are buried below 100s of other posts.

 

Any help appreciated.

If you want to see where your files are simply log in to www.icloud.com on any browser and that is where all your master files and photos are located.

Anything on your desktop, PC, Mac, iPad or iPhone are simply downloaded copies of the files in www.icloud.com.  

They will only be on your devices temporarily if you have Optimise Storage turned on under settings on iOS and macOS devices.

If you turn OFF the optimise storage settings then all files and photos will be downloaded onto your device if you have sufficient space.

I recommend leaving Optimise Storage normally turned ON when using iOS and macOS devices.

[walt.farrell]

On 12/20/2023 at 4:58 AM, Affinity Rat said:

My icloud has files on it that are not on one of my devices, clicking on the file in the icloud has the option remove download! I thought the remove download option was for removing icloud downloads from local devices.

It is unclear (to me) from your descriptions where you're looking at files. The choices as I understand them are:

1. In a web browser, at icloud.com
   or
2. On a device, in Files or File Explorer.

As far as I know, "Remove Download" (or, in Windows, Free Up Space) is only available in scenario 2. If you are in scenario 1 (web browser) you only have a choice to Delete the file.

So, can you clarify exactly where you are looking, and maybe provide some screenshots of what you're seeing?

[Affinity Rat]

11 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

So, can you clarify exactly where you are looking, and maybe provide some screenshots of what you're seeing?

Thanx Walt, I presume the remove download option when pointing to a file in the cloud using ipad file manager app, means it will remove it everywhere it exists on all devices leaving it in the cloud. Whereas deleting it would remove it from the cloud AND all devices.