How to keep iCloud Drive files available offline on a Mac
By default, macOS is allowed to remove the local copy of any iCloud Drive file when the Mac runs short of disk space. The file still exists in iCloud, but opening it means downloading it again — which fails on a train, on a plane, or anywhere without a connection. This guide shows how to stop that happening, either for everything in iCloud Drive or for the folders you care about. It covers the System Settings app, which means macOS Ventura or later.
What you'll need: A Mac signed in to your Apple Account with iCloud Drive turned on, an internet connection while you set this up, and enough free disk space on the Mac to hold the files you want to keep. Check the space in Apple menu › About This Mac › More Info and scroll to Storage.
Open your iCloud settings
Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and choose System Settings. Click your name at the very top of the sidebar, then click iCloud.
Check iCloud Drive is syncing this Mac
Click Drive in the list of apps saved to iCloud. Make sure Sync this Mac is switched on. If it's off, nothing in iCloud Drive appears on this Mac at all, online or offline.
Turn off Optimise Mac Storage
Go back to the main iCloud page and scroll to the bottom. Switch off Optimise Mac Storage. This is the setting that lets macOS delete local copies to free up space — with it off, every file in iCloud Drive is downloaded to the Mac and stays there.
Look at what is and isn't downloaded
Open Finder and click iCloud Drive in the sidebar. A file that is only in the cloud shows a small cloud icon with a downward arrow next to its name. A file with no icon is on the Mac and will open offline.
If you turned off Optimise Mac Storage in step 3, the cloud icons disappear one by one as the downloads finish. A large library can take a while, and the Mac needs to stay awake and connected until it's done.
Pin a folder so it always stays on the Mac
Right-click a folder (or a single file) in iCloud Drive and choose Keep Downloaded. Everything inside it downloads now and macOS will not remove it later, even when disk space runs low. A small pin symbol appears next to the item.
Wait for the download to finish
Watch the cloud icons on the files inside the pinned folder. While a file is coming down, the icon shows a partial circle that fills in. Once every icon has gone, the folder is fully on the Mac.
Test it without a connection
Click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and switch Wi-Fi off. Open one of the files you pinned. It should open straight away with no error. Turn Wi-Fi back on afterwards so any edits you make sync up again.
Variations
Right-click the file and choose Download Now. It comes down to the Mac and opens offline, but macOS is still free to remove the local copy later if it needs the space. Use this for something you need once, and Keep Downloaded for anything you need to rely on.
To take a pinned folder off the Mac, right-click it and choose Remove Download. The files stay in iCloud and the folder stays in the sidebar; only the local copies go. The cloud icons come back to show that.
In System Settings › your name › iCloud › Drive, switch on Desktop & Documents Folders. Both folders move into iCloud Drive and follow the same rules as everything else there, so pin them with Keep Downloaded if you want them offline on a Mac that has Optimise Mac Storage turned on.
Troubleshooting
Optimise Mac Storage is still on and the Mac ran low on space, so macOS evicted the local copies. Either turn the setting off (step 3) or pin the folders you need with Keep Downloaded (step 5). A plain Download Now doesn't protect a file from this.
That option arrived with macOS Sonoma. On an earlier version of macOS, the only choices are Download Now and turning off Optimise Mac Storage for the whole of iCloud Drive. Check your version under Apple menu › About This Mac.
Check the Mac has an internet connection and enough free disk space for the files. If both are fine, restart the Mac; iCloud picks up where it left off. Files that have been waiting for hours with no progress usually mean the Mac's disk is full, not that iCloud is broken — free some space and the downloads resume. Note that iCloud storage (the space you rent from Apple) and the Mac's own disk are separate; a full iCloud account stops uploads, not downloads.
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