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Manage your iCloud storage

Posted in Apple Mac OS

Reduce the size of your Photo Library

If you don't use iCloud Photo Library, your Camera Roll is part of your iCloud backup. To check the size of the backup on your device in iOS 8 or later, tap Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage. (If you're using an earlier version of iOS, tap Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage.) Then tap the name of your iOS device. The backup size is under Photo Library. 

To reduce the size of your Photo Library backup, save your photos and videos to your computer, then manually back up your iOS device. If you want to keep your photos and videos on your iOS device, you can turn off Photo Library in Backup using the steps above or purchase more storage. If there are any photos that you don't want to keep, you can delete them. Just open photos and select the item you want to delete. Then click the Trash icon and tap Delete Photo.

iCloud Drive

You can manage which files are stored in iCloud Drive from your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

iOS

You can use these steps to manage your files from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

  1. Tap Settings > iCloud.
    • If you're using iOS 8 or later, tap Storage > Manage Storage > iCloud Drive. 
    • If you're using an earlier version of iOS, tap Storage & Backup, then tap Manage Storage.
  2. Tap the name of the app that's using iCloud Drive.
  3. The individual files in that app will appear. You can either swipe left or click the Edit button to remove files.

OS X Yosemite

On a Mac using OS X Yosemite, you can manage your iCloud Drive files using the iCloud Drive folder in Finder:

  1. If you need to, turn on iCloud Drive on your Mac:
    1. Go to Apple menu > System Preferences and click iCloud.
    2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
    3. Turn on iCloud Drive. In Options, make sure that you select the apps for the files you want to manage.
  2. Open Finder and go to the iCloud Drive folder.
  3. Drag an item to the Trash, or move it to a different folder on your Mac.

Windows

On a PC using Windows 7 or later, you can manage your iCloud Drive files using Windows Explorer. Use these steps to add an iCloud Drive folder to Windows Explorer:

  1. Download and install iCloud for Windows.
  2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
  3. Enable iCloud Drive.

iCloud.com

You can manage your files from the iCloud Drive app at iCloud.com. Sign in to iCloud.com, click the iCloud Drive app, select the files that you want to delete, then click the Trash icon.

Mail

You can free up iCloud storage space by deleting email messages from your iCloud email account. You can also move email messages from your iOS device to your Mac or PC, where they no longer count against your iCloud storage.

Use the steps below to delete messages from your account. Remember that messages with large attachments take up more space than simple text emails.

iOS

If your iOS device is configured to access iCloud email, you can delete messages from any mailbox, then empty the Trash to free up space:

  1. Swipe left across any message to delete it.
  2. Tap your Trash folder.
  3. Delete messages one at a time or delete all of them by tapping Edit, then tapping Delete All.

OS X or Windows

If you're using iCloud Mail with a desktop email app, such as OS X Mail or Microsoft Outlook, use these steps:

  • OS X Mail: Delete the messages that you no longer want, then choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items and select your iCloud email account from the menu.
  • Microsoft Outlook 2007 (Windows): Delete the messages that you no longer want, then choose Edit > Purge and select your iCloud account from the menu.
  • Microsoft Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013 (Windows): Delete the messages that you no longer want. Outlook will permanently delete your messages the next time you close and restart the app.

iCloud.com

  1. From your computer, sign in to iCloud.com.
  2. Click Mail.
  3. Delete the messages that you no longer want, then click the gear icon and select Empty Trash.

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