iCloud & iCloud Photos · iCloud storage space and plans
Does making iCloud files online-only free up space in my iCloud account?
Short answer: No. Online-only frees space on your Mac only — the file still lives in iCloud and counts against your iCloud plan. iCloud space is freed only by deleting files from iCloud or moving them out of it.
No. Online-only frees space on your Mac only. The file is still stored in iCloud, so it counts against your iCloud storage exactly as before.
Think of them as two separate budgets:
- Your Mac's disk — freed by online-only files, by Storage Studio's Optimize Cloud Storage, and by moving folders to an external drive.
- Your iCloud account — only freed by deleting things from iCloud or moving them out of iCloud.
If your iCloud account is full, see what to do when iCloud storage is full.