Manage files and folders

Open any file or folder stored in iCloud Drive using the Open… command in the File menu. If the item is not yet downloaded, the app normally calls for it, and once it has been downloaded, it is opened. However, that is not always the case, and doesn’t normally work when you use the Open Recent… command. If the item has been evicted since it was last opened, the latter is likely to result in an error reporting that the file doesn’t exist. If you wait for it to be downloaded, perhaps helping that with the Download command, it should open normally.

Cirrus then displays information about the item and provides some tools:

The name of the window is set to the name and type of the item opened.

Path shows the full path to the item. Copy and paste this into Terminal to access the item there, ensuring that you add any \ escape characters required for spaces.

Uploading shows a level indicator of status, and any error messages resulting.

Downloading shows a level indicator of status, and any error messages resulting.

The text box below Downloading shows the official status of the item as seen by macOS

Container shows the name of the iCloud container in which the item is stored.

Download will request the download of the item and its entire contents.

Evict from local will request macOS to evict the item. This can only work with folders, so is disabled much of the time. When not available, use the Evict menu command instead.

Refresh fetches the above information about the item, and updates the window.

Copy to iCloud runs a small test of uploading one file to your iCloud Drive. See ➜ test your iCloud .

Clean up deletes any test files, named co.eclecticlight.Cirrus.data from ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs. Use this when you have finished performing any tests with Cirrus. If you haven’t used the Copy to iCloud button, this is not useful. Although you can click this after each test, that isn’t necessary.

The large scrolling text box at the bottom shows additional information about the item and actions. Change the size of the text in that area using ⌘ + (Command-plus) to make it one point larger, to a maximum of 24 points, or ⌘ – (Command-hyphen) to make it one point smaller, to a minimum of 4 points. This size is saved as the default for the next time that you open Cirrus, as is the window size and position.

The levels shown indicate how close that function is to completion. No bar indicates that the action has not been requested, and the full three bars indicates the function is complete, and the item uploaded or downloaded. The bar does not give any idea of the progress of an upload or download itself, though, only the stages of the process.

The Save as… menu command saves the contents of the scrolling text box to an RTF file.

➜ browse items in iCloud

➜ browser reports

➜ where to find iCloud items

➜ log window (not El Capitan)

➜ test your iCloud

➜ how Cirrus works

➜ oddities, and more information

➜ back to welcome

The Eclectic Light Company – https://eclecticlight.co