How to manage your iCloud photos >

1 iCloud Photos in iOS

To activate iCloud Photos in iOS, open Settings, tap your name at the top, tap iCloud, tap Photos and turn on iCloud Photos (or iCloud Photo Library in older versions). It’s a good idea to choose Optimise iPhone Storage to save space.

2 iCloud Photos in macOS

Turn on iCloud Photos in System Preferences > iCloud > Photos or Photos > Preferences > iCloud. My Photo Stream is an older alternative that only syncs the last 1,000 items, but this figure doesn’t count towards your total iCloud limit.

3 iCloud Photos in Windows

You can also access your iCloud Photos from a Windows PC with iCloud for Windows installed, but it does work a little differently: new photos sync automatically to your PC, but uploads are manual. See bit.ly/ mficpwpc.

4 Download originals

On your Mac, choose Download Originals to this Mac to save full copies of photos and videos. If your startup drive is too full, you’ll need to move your System Photos Library to an external drive: see bit.ly/ mfplsvspc.

5 Export originals

Too many photos for iCloud? Make a new album in macOS Photos and add items you don’t want to sync. In Finder, make a folder on a suitable drive. Select the photos in your album and do File > Export > Export Unmodified Original.

6 Re-import originals

Export to your folder. In Photos, delete these photos. Untick Photos > Preferences > General > Copy items to the Photos library, then use File > Import to import the copies. They stay in your folder and don’t sync to iCloud.