What is ~/Library/CloudStorage on Mac? Can you delete it?
Do not delete ~/Library/CloudStorage by hand. This is your data: the synced folders of cloud apps such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, and deleting files there deletes them from the cloud as well. Free space from the app instead, by making files online-only.
Where it is
~/Library/CloudStorageWhat it is
Current versions of macOS give cloud storage apps one standard place to show their files: ~/Library/CloudStorage. Each account gets a folder there, named after the service and often the account, and the same folders appear under Locations in the Finder sidebar.
The files are yours, kept in step with the service. Some are stored on your Mac and some are online-only placeholders that take almost no space until you open them. Finder shows a cloud icon next to items that are not downloaded.
The space it uses grows as you open files, since each one is downloaded and then kept. A size shown for the folder can be misleading, because some tools count online-only files as if they were on your disk.
How big it gets
From almost nothing to the full size of your cloud accounts, depending on how many files are downloaded to this Mac.
How to shrink it the right way
- Run the command below to see how much space each account's folder really takes on disk.
- Open the folder from the Finder sidebar, select files or folders you do not need offline, Control-click and choose the option to keep them online only. The wording depends on the service, for example Free Up Space, Remove Download or Make Online-only.
- Check the sync app's settings for an option that keeps files online-only by default.
- If you stop using a service, sign out of it or unlink this Mac in its app first, after checking that syncing has finished. Then the app removes its folder, or tells you that you can.
du -sh ~/Library/CloudStorage/*What happens afterwards
Online-only files stay in your cloud account and download again when you open them, which needs an internet connection. Anything you delete, as opposed to making online-only, is removed from the cloud and from your other devices.
How Diskzy handles it
Diskzy shows each cloud folder and its size on the disk map, so you can see which account is taking the space. Making files online-only is done in Finder or in the sync app.
Related guides
- Mobile Documents~/Library/Mobile Documents
- Group Containers~/Library/Group Containers
- Containers~/Library/Containers
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