ICloud MacBook pro. How to transfer your data to a new Mac with iCloud

How to transfer your data to a new Mac with iCloud

There’s more than one way to transfer files to a new Mac, and Apple’s iCloud Drive offers a quick and easy option. Here’s a walk-through of the file sharing and migration process.

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Seasoned Mac users are likely familiar with iCloud Drive, Apple’s Cloud-based file storage feature that enables storing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos, audio recordings, videos and other files. Users less familiar with Macs, iCloud and Apple IDs might enjoy learning that iCloud also permits file sharing and moving files among multiple devices, including iPads, iPhones and Macs. Users only need to log in using their Apple ID on a corresponding device and enable iCloud Drive.

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Here’s a quick walk-through for those new to Macs or unfamiliar with iCloud Drive.

iCloud requires an Apple ID

Before you can log in to and use iCloud Drive to store files in the Cloud and move files between Macs, you need an Apple ID, a unique account created with Apple that enables integrated operation of Apple’s App Store, iTunes Store, iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime and more on a Mac, as well as iPhones and iPads. Apple IDs are free.

One quick recommendation: Once you create an Apple ID, be sure to implement two-factor authentication to help keep the account secure.

Enabling iCloud on a Mac

Once you have an Apple ID, enabling iCloud Drive operation on a Mac is straightforward. Open System Preferences either from the Mac’s Dock or by opening Finder, selecting Applications from the left-pane Favorites menu, and double-clicking System Preferences. Next, select Apple ID and enter your Apple ID credentials. Once you’ve logged in to your Apple ID, check the iCloud Drive box (Figure A) to enable iCloud Drive on the Mac.

With iCloud Drive enabled, users can access files stored within the Cloud via Finder. The iCloud Drive option appears within Finder’s left-pane navigation window.

Using Finder, files can be shared and migrated between Macs by dragging the files from an old Mac into the iCloud Drive directory, enabling iCloud Drive on the new Mac, and configuring iCloud Drive to leverage the user’s same Apple ID on the new Mac. If a user commonly stores files directly within the iCloud Drive directory, on the new Mac, a user just needs to associate the user’s Apple ID with the new Mac, then enable iCloud Drive on the new Mac and the files will appear within the iCloud directory in Finder.

Alternatively, users may choose to only associate certain files and applications with iCloud. With iCloud Drive open within System Preferences, clicking the Options button opens the iCloud Drive options window, from which specific applications and services can be enabled (by checking the corresponding box) or disabled (by deselecting the corresponding box). Select the choices you wish to use, and then click the Done button when you’re finished. Note, selecting the Desktop Documents Folders iCloud Drive option (Figure B), permits expediently sharing all files and folders stored within a Mac’s Desktop and Documents folders with the iCloud Drive, which speeds accessing those files using iCloud Drive on another Mac.

iCloud information including pricing details

In the event a Mac user wishes to access iCloud Drive files using an iPhone, iPad or Windows system, the file sharing process should be as quick and easy; Apple maintains iPad and iPhone instructions and Windows system steps on its website. Any files created or edited by an iPad, iPhone or Windows system that are stored within iCloud become available to a new Mac, once mated to the iCloud account, including for purposes of migrating files to the new system.

The same is true for iCloud Drive photos and other images. Files stored within iCloud Drive, whether those files are photos, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, utilities, backups or other content as noted earlier, can be shared between Macs using iCloud Drive.

iCloud Drive is a time-saving feature that simplifies file migration between multiple devices, while also adding Cloud-based backup assurance. If a Mac’s hard drive fails, for example, files stored using iCloud Drive will be available on the replacement system, once mated to the corresponding Apple ID account. This data recovery feature alone typically justifies the service’s expense. With 5GB of free storage, and 50GB of additional storage space available for just 99 cents a month, iCloud offers compelling Cloud services value that eases daily computer tasks, while also simplifying the burdens of sharing and migrating files between Macs and even when deploying new systems. Need even more file storage space using iCloud Drive? That’s no trouble, as Apple offers 200GB of storage for just 2.99 a month and 2TB for 9.99 a month.

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How To Use iCloud Drive For Multiple Users On a Single Mac

If you’ve been using a Mac for quite some time, you’ve likely integrated your iCloud Drive account to your machine. It makes storing and sharing files over Cloud much easier than ever. Since it’s an Apple feature, it works natively with the built-in tools on your Mac.

If your Mac is used by two or more users, you might want to add their iCloud Drives as well to your machine. However, there’s a limitation that prevents you from adding two iCloud Drives to a single account on your machine. You can only keep a single iCloud Drive account active at a time in your user account on Mac.

So how do you deal with the restriction and have multiple iCloud Drives running at the same time on your Mac?

Use Fast User Switching To Use Multiple iCloud Drive Accounts

There’s a feature on your Mac that allows you to easily switch between two accounts on your system. It’s called Fast User Switching and it lets you immediately get into another account on your Mac with the click of a button.

What’s great about that is that even if your main account is in foreground and you’re using it, your other account will still be logged in and processes will continue to run on it.

This means you can add your other iCloud Drive account to a new user on your Mac and be able to sync files for both of your accounts at the same time. Setting the whole thing up is fairly easy.

Create a New User Account

If you haven’t already, you need to create a new account on your Mac that you’ll use to integrate with your other iCloud Drive account.

• Click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner of your screen and select System Preferences.
• Click on the (plus) sign at the bottom of the users list and it’ll let you add a new account. Enter the required information on your screen and then click on Create User to add the account to your system.

Enable Fast User Switching

Now that a new account is created to let you use your other iCloud Drive account, you’ll need to enable the Fast User Switching feature to allow quick switching between two accounts.

• Click on the Apple logo at the top and select System Preferences.
• Select the Users Groups option on the following screen.
• Click on the Login Options button at the bottom of the user list.
• The following screen lets you modify several settings related to user accounts. Find the option that says Show fast user switching menu as and tick-mark the box for it. It’ll enable the feature on your Mac.

You’ll find a new option in the menu bar (the top screen area) on your Mac. It should say the full name of your account and clicking on it reveals other user accounts you have on your machine.

Log-in to the New Account and Add iCloud Drive

Now that your new account is created and ready to use, let’s log into it and add your iCloud Drive to it.

Make sure you have your iCloud login details handy as you’ll be entering them in one of the following steps.

• Click on the newly added icon in your menu bar for Fast User Switching and choose the new account you created.
• You’ll be asked for the password of your new account. Enter the password and it’ll then likely launch the setup wizard. Set the options as how you’d like them. You may also be asked to enter your iCloud login details but skip that for now as you’ll be doing that later in this guide.
• Click on the Apple logo at the top and select System Preferences.
• Choose iCloud on the following screen as you wish to add an iCloud account to your new account.
• On the following screen, it’ll ask you to enter your Apple ID. Enter in your Apple/iCloud ID and click on Next at the bottom.
• If you haven’t already enabled it, it’ll ask you to set up two factor authentication. It’s up to you to decide whether you should do it or not, but it is highly recommended.
• You’ll now have a screen with two options on it. You can checkmark the first one and click on Next. The second option, Find My Mac, can only be used by one user per Mac and if the other account has it enabled, it won’t let you turn it on for your account.
• You’ll now be on the screen where all iCloud features are listed. Make sure the iCloud Drive option is tick-marked. It ensures the Drive is available to use on your machine.
• Launch a Finder window by clicking on Finder in the Dock. You’ll see a new item labeled as iCloud Drive in the left sidebar. That’s what allows you to use your other iCloud Drive account on your machine.

You can now upload and download files from this newly added iCloud Drive account. Also, it’ll continue to sync even when you’ve switched to your main user account using Fast User Switching.

How To Remove Multiple iCloud Drive Accounts On a Mac

If you no longer wants to use multiple iCloud Drives on your Mac, you can have them removed in a few steps.

• Log into the account you want to remove the Drive from.
• Launch System Preferences and click on iCloud.
• If you don’t want to use any of the iCloud features in your account, click on the Sign Out button.
• If you only want to disable iCloud Drive, untick the box for it on your screen.
• iCloud Drive will no longer appear in the Finder.

iCloud MacBook pro

By Charlie Sorrel 11:00 am, March 6, 2018

• How-To
• Top stories

Is your Mac stuffed fit to burst? Do you look at the Finder’s Status Bar, see “1GB available,” and then give up what you were doing and go check instead? What if I told you that you could offload much of the junk/important data on your Mac to iCloud, just like you do with your iCloud Photo Library? Well, you can, and it’s easy. It’s called Optimized Storage.

Optimized Storage

Ever since macOS Sierra, you have been able to shift storage to iCloud. Combined with Apple’s very reasonable iCloud storage prices, which gets you 2TB for 10 per month. What’s more, you can share that storage with family members.

To get started with Optimized Storage, click on the Apple icon at the far left of your Mac’s menubar, and choose About This Mac. Then, click on the Storage tab in the window that appear, and then click on the Manage… button.

The Optimize Storage panel.

This brings you to Apple’s Optimized Storage panel. Take a look around — it tells you all kinds of stuff about how you’re wasting your disk space — but the part we’re interested in today is the Recommendations section. This has four tools to help trim the space used on your Mac. Today, we only want the first one, Store in iCloud, but the others are worth a look. You can have your Mac automatically empty your trash if you forget to do it yourself. You can have the mail app only download and store attachments from recent messages, and you can perform a storage audit using the Reduce Clutter tool (like DaisyDisk, only not as fancy).

For now, go ahead and click on Store in iCloud.

Store in iCloud

Using Store in iCloud, you can choose to have your Mac keep your Documents and Desktop folders on your iCloud Drive. Then, when your Mac gets too full, it will delete the local copies. If you need that file in future, it will be downloaded on demand. This works exactly like the iCloud Photo Library’s optimized storage, where the Mac (or iPhone) stores your photos in iCloud, and only keeps thumbnails locally, downloading the full-sized versions as you need them.

The other advantage of storing your Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud is that you can access them from your iPhone or iPad, using the Files app. They’ll show up as regular folders, just like any other.

Speaking of regular iCloud Drive folders, you can optimize those too. Go to System PreferencesiCloud and click on Options next to iCloud Drive. You’ll see this window:

Check this box to make all your iCloud folders behave as optimized folders. That is, their full contents will be stored on your Mac until the Mac gets too full, and then macOS will start deleting them from your Mac, leaving the copies in the Cloud.

Be careful

Make sure you think this through before going ahead. Any time you store a copy of your data in the Cloud, it is less secure. Also, make sure you still have a good local backup of all this data before you let your Mac start deleting things.

And finally, make sure your internet connection is up to the task. The last thing you want is to be abalone to access an important work file because it’s taking too long to download.

Top 10 Ways to Fix Error Connecting to iCloud on Mac

Signing into an iCloud account unlocks a lot of perks on your Mac. You can download apps from the App Store, connect to your other devices like iPhone for AirDrop, and sync your data online. However, none of this will be possible if you face an error while connecting to iCloud on Mac.

It can be annoying if your Mac suddenly stops connecting to your iPhone or if you’re unable to download the required apps. Well, you don’t have to be bothered for too long as there are some easy fixes for the iCloud connection error. Here’s how you can restore your connection to iCloud and use your Mac to its full potential.

Check the iCloud Server Status

Before we get to any of the solutions, it’s important to make sure the problem is at your end and not at Apple’s. Sometimes, the iCloud servers may be down which is why you can’t sign into iCloud on Mac. To check if that’s indeed the case, head over to Apple’s System Status website and look for the lights next to the iCloud parameters.

If the lights are red, iCloud services are down and you will have to wait for them to get back online. If the lights are green, everything is fine with iCloud’s servers. Proceed with further steps to fix it.

Connect to a Reliable Network

If your MacBook has difficulty connecting to iCloud, it could be due to a patchy internet connection. Ensure you connect to a stable Wi-Fi network and then try logging into iCloud. You could also try using your phone’s mobile hotspot if a Wi-Fi network isn’t available.

Force Reboot Your Mac

In case you haven’t already, employ the customary solution for most issues – rebooting your Mac. If your Mac can’t connect to the iCloud server, it’s time to reboot your Mac to see if a simple restart can solve the issue. If it’s a local issue with your Mac, this should ideally resolve it.

Press and hold the power button or the Touch ID button (depending on which Mac you have) until you see the Apple logo. Let go of the button when the Apple logo appears and your Mac will reboot.

Sign Out and Sign Back Into iCloud

At times, iCloud may be facing some issues with signing into your Apple ID. In such situations, you can try signing out of iCloud and then signing back in. This way, any issues with iCloud related to your Apple ID can be eliminated.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your Mac. Navigate to the System Settings tab.

Step 2: Select your name at the top. This will take you to your Apple ID settings.

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom and select Sign Out.

Step 4: Enter your Apple ID password and log out of your account. Sign back in via the same menu and check if iCloud works as expected.

Change Your Apple ID Password

If your old iCloud password doesn’t work or you’re unable to receive the 2-factor authentication prompts on your Apple devices to log in to iCloud, it’s time to set a new password. This will help you log in to iCloud without any issues.

Step 1: Head over to the ‘Manage Apple ID’ section on Apple’s website by visiting the link below.

Step 2: Click on the ‘Forgot Apple ID or password?’ prompt at the bottom.

Step 3: Enter your Apple ID to generate an OTP on your phone number or email address. Verify to set a new password.

Then, use this password to log in to iCloud on your Mac.

Try Using a Different iCloud Account

Maybe Apple isn’t too pleased with your Apple ID credentials. Or, there’s an issue with logging into iCloud with certain Apple IDs. Regardless of what it is, you can try logging in to iCloud with a different ID to check if the problem is indeed with your ID. If your original ID was a phone number, try logging into an Apple ID that is an email.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your Mac. Navigate to the System Settings tab.

Step 2: Select your name right at the top. This will take you to your Apple ID settings.

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom and select Sign Out.

Step 4: Enter a new Apple ID and password to sign in. If iCloud works normally after that, there could be an issue with your older Apple account. If that’s the case, try to change your Apple email ID to a different address.

Delete PLIST Files

Deleting the PLIST files of an app or service on a Mac is the equivalent of resetting the app’s preferences. This way, it’s as good as using iCloud for the first time and setting it up from scratch. This can be a good way to fix iCloud on your Mac. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Open a new Finder window on your Mac. Click on the Go button. It’s located at the top of your screen on the menu bar.

Step 2: Select Go to Folder.

Step 3: Enter the following path in the box: ~/Library/Preferences/ and press the Enter key once done. You will now be in the Preferences folder.

Step 4: Search through the list to find the com.Apple.systempreferences.plist file. Select it and delete it.

Step 5: Restart your Mac. Now, try to sign into iCloud.

Disable VPN

A VPN connection could be the reason why your MacBook can’t connect to iCloud. Since a VPN changes your location, the Wi-Fi network may not allow you to use iCloud. If you’re using a VPN on your computer, turn it off before trying to connect to the public Wi-Fi network.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen. Select System Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to the VPN section. You can find it on the left pane.

Step 4: Ensure the toggle next to your VPN provider is disabled.

Log in to iCloud now and it should be fine.

Change the Date and Time

It has been reported in the past that inaccurate date and time settings on your Mac can cause issues with iCloud. So, it’s time to set it right to fix the error while connecting to iCloud on your Mac.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen. Select System Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to the General section.

Step 3: Head over to the ‘Date Time’ tab. You should now see the ability to set the date and time.

Step 4: Enable the toggle next to ‘Set time and date automatically’. You can also choose to turn the toggle off and set the date and time manually.

Update macOS to the Latest Version

Some macOS versions can have peculiar issues. It’s possible that the current version of macOS you’re using is causing problems with iCloud. So, update your Mac to the latest version of macOS to iron out any software bugs. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo on the top-left section of your screen. Select System Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to the General section.

Step 3: Head over to the Software Update tab. Your Mac will now search for updates to install.

If there is an available update, hit the Update button and wait for it to install.

Enjoy iCloud Services

iCloud lets you do a lot of things on your Mac that improve its overall functionality and usability. Therefore, if you’re facing an error when connecting to iCloud on your Mac, use these steps to get past the issue.

Last updated on 16 January, 2023

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