Manage your Icloud drive on ios and Mac

WORK WITH FILES ON OS X AND IOS, AND EVEN RECOVER WHAT YOU’VE DELETED

APPLE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH online storage and syncing tools hasn’t always been a good one. From iTools through to MobileMe, it made one misstep a er another. Even when it rst introduced iCloud, there was no easy way to use the service as cloud storage like you would Dropbox or OneDrive, for example.

at changed with the introduction of iCloud Drive. It’s integrated into OS X’s Finder, making it simple to add les to and retrieve them from your online storage. e iCloud Drive app added in iOS 9 (see below) allows for le management on your iPhone or iPad.

When it comes to working with your les, there’s a handful of tips and tricks that are worth knowing. Moving them to iCloud Drive on your Mac is easy — drag and drop them onto its row in Finder’s sidebar, or click that row and then drag and drop items onto a folder within.

e iCloud Drive app for iOS is largely straightforward, yet it provides several ways to get certain things done. It gives you two ways to view your les and folders: as large icons or in a list. To switch between them, go to the top level of your iCloud Drive, then tap the bulleted list icon at the top right corner.

ere are three ways to sort your les and folders: by date, name or tags. To use tags, you’ll need to create and attach them in OS X, as there’s no way to do so in iOS. In OS X, click iCloud Drive in Finder’s sidebar, Ctrl-click the le you want to tag, then choose Tags in the contextual menu. e easiest way to create tags is in ‘Finder > Preferences > Tags’.

MOVE MOUNTAINS OF FILES

Back in the iOS app, the list view enables you to move a le by tapping the ‘i’ to the right of its name, then the toolbar’s folder icon, and choosing a folder. You can move multiple les at the same time by tapping ‘Select’ at the top of the screen, then the items to move and nally ‘Move’ at the bottom of the screen. A third option for moving les is to swipe le over a le’s row in list view and tap ‘More’, then ‘Move to Folder’. In icon view, hold a nger on a le, choose ‘More’ when the options bar appears, then tap ‘Move to Folder’. e Select and swipe methods also let you delete les.

If you delete les from iCloud Drive, you can recover them for up to 30 days a er deletion. See how to on the opposite page.