Welcome

Cirrus gives you control over how items are stored in iCloud Drive, and provides tools and information to help you diagnose and fix problems with iCloud.

Files stored in iCloud exist in one of three states:

• A copy of the file is in your Mac’s local storage, and another is on the iCloud servers. When you look at the file in the Finder, it has no iCloud icon by it (or an icon showing just the cloud ), and its status is downloaded .

• There is no copy of the file on your Mac’s local storage, but it is on the iCloud servers (and possibly stored locally on other Macs or devices). When you look at the file in the Finder, it has an iCloud icon with an arrow pointing down . Its status is evicted , as it has been evicted from local storage.

• The intermediate between those two states, in which a file is being downloaded from iCloud to provide a copy on your Mac’s local storage. This is often marked by an icon showing just the cloud together with the downloading progress circle , and its status is downloading .

Behaviour of iCloud depends on two key settings in the iCloud pane:

whether iCloud Drive is also enabled for Desktop & Documents Folders ,

and whether Optimize Mac Storage is enabled.

If Optimize Mac Storage is not enabled, then all files in iCloud Drive should either be downloaded or downloading, as without that storage optimisation, all files are stored locally.

If Optimize Mac Storage is enabled, then files can be evicted by macOS, to save space on your local Mac storage, and that is when Cirrus is most useful, as it lets you decide which files are downloaded and which are evicted. As eviction is possible even with Optimize Mac Storage disabled, you can always use it to reclaim local storage. The Finder currently only lets you download files, not evict them.

You may also encounter problems with downloading and uploading files to iCloud. At its worst, either process can take many minutes, sometimes even several hours. Cirrus provides tools which can sometimes kickstart syncing with iCloud, and accelerate those long transfers.

Finally, Cirrus provides a lot of information about files in iCloud, and allows you to inspect log entries which can help lead you to solution of problems with iCloud and iCloud Drive. It does this by extracting those log entries most relevant to iCloud operations over a selected period of time. ⚠️ To access the log in Cirrus, you’ll need to be logged in as an admin user.

⚠️ In macOS Mojave and later, you’ll normally get best results by adding Cirrus to the list of apps with Full Disk Access in the Privacy tab of the Security & Privacy pane. In Catalina, the first time that you access iCloud using Cirrus, macOS may also request your consent to do so.

➜ download and evict items from iCloud

➜ manage files and folders in iCloud

➜ browse items in iCloud

➜ browser reports

➜ where to find iCloud items

➜ log window (not El Capitan)

➜ test your iCloud

➜ how Cirrus works

➜ updates

➜ oddities, and more information

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