In Finder, Control-click the file in iCloud Drive and choose Keep Downloaded (macOS Sequoia or later).
Keep Downloaded
- Open iCloud Drive in Finder and find the file or folder.
- Control-click it and choose Keep Downloaded. It stays on your Mac and in iCloud Drive on your other devices.
This applies when Optimize Mac Storage is on for iCloud Drive. Choose Keep Downloaded again to turn it off.
Download it once
- Files that are only in iCloud show a cloud icon with a downward arrow.
- Control-click the file and choose Download Now, or just open it.
With dragand
dragand works with cloud-only files: it downloads them first, with progress, before holding or keeping them. Keeping a file takes it out of iCloud Drive, so dragand asks first.
