MacBook Air 2017.Confused with finder

dave307 · Jan 30, 2019

Hi. Can somebody please put me on the correct path with sing finder.
on the top I have Documents under that I have Applications then Downloads Movies Pictures iCloud
most of my documents are in the iCloud folder.
My question is if 99% of my documents are on the iCloud what is the documents folder for do I keep items there that I don't want to be saved to the cloud?.Sorry if that sounds confusing I need to sort the documents and the pictures folders etc in a organised method.
Any help please.
This is the setup I have the top Documents contents also goes to the cloud.And the documents named David Williams are the one that saves to the hdd.
How do I hide the top documents if possible and keep the iCloud icon instead of that doc folder.
Can you understand what I req. Keep all documents I don't require on the cloud to be saved to the D Williams folder.
Thank You
David

JezzerP · Jan 30, 2019

OK, iCloud Drive is just Apples version of a cloud storage/sync service like Dropbox. You can use it to sync files across multiple devices, including Macs and iOS phones/tablets. Now, if you have set your Mac up like this, the 'Documents' folder can be part of iCloud Drive, so on your Mac if you go to :

System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive Options

And see if 'Desktop & Documents Folders' is checked. If it is, then the 'Documents' folder you see when you click on iCloud Drive in Finder will be one and the same as the 'Documents' folder that is also listed in the Finder sidebar. You can test it by moving files around or deleting things, and see what happens in both folders. Now, if you had two or more Macs, your Desktop and Documents folder will be kept in sync via iCloud, and you will be able to access exactly the same files from an iOS device.

Not everyone wants this functionality however (depends on how you work), so all you would have to do is switch off the setting in System Preferences as outlined above.

To remove the sibgle 'Documents' entry in the Finder all you have to do is select and right-click the folder you wish to 'remove' and then select 'Remove from Sidebar', and bingo!

dave307 · Jan 30, 2019

Many thanks will try and sort it tomorrow .
Once again Thank You

dave307 · Jan 31, 2019

Hi I'm back followed you advice and all good now.Many thanks.
While I was doing the job I decided to look for any duplicates in the folders etc, I saw on the apple support regarding duplicate finder it was open finder and enter a Asterix into the search box top right and yes it found quite a lot. So decided to send the duplicated to the trash bin.
I did a backup last week with time machine, When I connect the time machine for the next backup I hope that it won't place those duplicates back into my MacBook.
Any help on that Please if you would be so kind.
David.

JezzerP · Jan 31, 2019

No, Time Machine will not restore files you have deleted, but there will be a copy in the TM backup that will allow to roll back and undelete those files if needs be.