Diskzyv0.1
Don't delete by hand

What is ~/Library/Mobile Documents on Mac? Can you delete it?

Short answer

Do not delete ~/Library/Mobile Documents by hand. This is your data: it is iCloud Drive, and deleting a file there removes it from iCloud and from all your devices. To save space, remove the local download and keep the file in iCloud.

Where it is

~/Library/Mobile Documents

What it is

Everything you see under iCloud Drive in Finder is stored in ~/Library/Mobile Documents. The folder called com~apple~CloudDocs is iCloud Drive itself, and the others belong to apps that keep documents in iCloud, such as Pages, Numbers or third-party apps.

These are synced files, not a cache. Changes and deletions you make here are sent to iCloud and repeated on every device signed in to your account.

A file can be in iCloud without taking space on your Mac. Downloaded files take their full size. Files shown with a cloud icon in Finder are kept only in iCloud until you open them.

How big it gets

Anything from a few MB to the full size of your iCloud Drive, depending on how much of it is downloaded to this Mac.

How to shrink it the right way

  1. Open iCloud Drive in Finder, not the Library folder, so you see your files the normal way.
  2. To free space and keep a file, Control-click it or a folder and choose Remove Download. The item stays in iCloud and downloads again when you open it.
  3. To let macOS do this automatically, open System Settings, click your name, choose iCloud, then Drive, and turn on Optimize Mac Storage. Older files are then kept only in iCloud when space is low.
  4. Delete a file only if you no longer want it anywhere. Deleted items can be recovered for a limited time from Recently Deleted in iCloud Drive.
  5. The command below shows how much space the downloaded files take on this Mac.
In Terminal
du -sh ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents

What happens afterwards

Removing a download frees the space on your Mac and leaves the file in iCloud, where it needs an internet connection to open. Deleting a file removes it from iCloud and every device.

How Diskzy handles it

Diskzy shows the folder and what is inside it on the disk map, so you can see which downloaded files take the most room. Removing downloads is done in Finder, so iCloud stays in step.

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