Multiple issues with iCloud Drive Folder Sharing

[ch1ptune]

Hi all

Recently, my business partner and I started using the new Folder Sharing feature of iCloud Drive. I have a 2 TB plan and he has a 200 GB plan. Each of us own an iMac and a MacBook Pro.

I created the shared folder, which is around 500 GB, and for the most part it works great, except for two things:

1. His iMac doesn't always upload to his personal Document folder on iCloud Drive, which means that files saved to iCloud Drive on his iMac can't be found anywhere on his MacBook. To solve this, we trying the following:

• Disable Desktop and Documents
• Sign out of iCloud
• Disable/enable iCloud Drive

This solved the issue, but as soon as we enabled Desktop and Documents again, the issue returned.

2. The other issue concerns my MacBook. Optimises storage is enabled, and on my personal (as in non-shared) iCloud Drive, this has always worked well. But after we've started using Shared Folders, my MacBook keeps download a lot of files (7-11 GB), and once it's done, it just starts all over again after a couple of hours. This means that my MacBook is essentially downloading 80% of the time, which sometimes almost kills the Wi-Fi (when we're at my colleague's house) and just keeps my MacBook Pro busy for no apparent reason.

Has anyone experienced some of the same issues and know how to fix them? We are this close to moving to OneDrive, unfortunately

 

[Mars20]

I am guessing here, but could the reason for the first part of your query be that your Partner's iCloud storage is only 200 GB, whereas the shared folder is 500 GB?

 

[ch1ptune]

I’ve been thinking that myself. It’s unclear how iCloud Drive is designed, though.

There’s no error message that indicates that storage space should be an issue.

How do other cloud services work? If Person A shares a folder of, say, 200 GB with Person B, do both people’s available cloud storage need to exceed 200 GB?

 

[gnirkatto]

I’ve been thinking that myself. It’s unclear how iCloud Drive is designed, though.

There’s no error message that indicates that storage space should be an issue.

How do other cloud services work? If Person A shares a folder of, say, 200 GB with Person B, do both persons’ available cloud storage need to exceed 200 GB?

This is a very interesting question, and I would like to know the answer to it, too. Of course the developers of such a feature have to consider several different scenarios - and I think I do have a basic idea of how these SHOULD be handled, but in all honesty, I don't know enough about the internals of iCloud folder sharing, so I wont speculate.
I would 1st research in the iCloud folder sharing documentation and if this doesn't contain specific information on this subject (as I would expect) I would call Apple support - they should KNOW, not guess. Hopefully.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I came across this article from Apple's support site:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210910

Specifically:

A shared folder only takes up space in the owner's iCloud storage. It does not count against the iCloud storage of participants in the shared folder.

Second bullet under "Learn more about folder sharing" at the bottom of the page.