Access iCloud Drive files from your iPhone and other devices

Use iCloud Drive to manage, view, edit and update file versions across all of your devices.

Use iCloud Drive on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC

Automatically save Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files to iCloud Drive

You can update the settings on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch so that your documents automatically save to iCloud Drive, On My [device], or a third-party cloud service.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Choose to update the settings for Pages, Numbers, or Keynote.
  3. Tap Document Storage.
  4. Choose where you want to automatically save your documents.

If you choose iCloud Drive, changes you make to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files on your Mac automatically save to iCloud Drive.

Add Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive

Manage your iCloud Drive files while offline

If you're offline and want to access, edit, and save documents in iCloud Drive, follow these steps first.

How to access files while you're offline

Upload files to iCloud Drive to save changes made offline

You can upload files to iCloud Drive from a Mac or PC by doing one of the following:

  • Drag files from either your desktop or a folder window on your computer to the iCloud Drive window. You can also drag your files to a folder icon in the iCloud Drive window. If you drag to a folder icon, it's highlighted to confirm that the item you're dragging goes into the folder.
  • Click the iCloud Drive upload button in the iCloud Drive toolbar. Select the files you want to upload, then click Choose.

If you don't have enough space in iCloud for your upload, upgrade your iCloud storage or manage your iCloud storage to free up space.

When changes to your files upload to iCloud

The amount of time it takes for your changes to upload to iCloud depends on the app you're using. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote regularly upload files to iCloud so you don't lose any changes. Other apps upload your files to iCloud only after you save them to the iCloud Drive folder. To see your saved files on a Mac, go to Finder > iCloud Drive. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to the Files app. On a PC with iCloud for Windows, go to File Explorer > iCloud Drive.

If you still don't see the latest changes or you see an "in-progress change" icon or the iCloud icon in the notification area (system tray), try to save a new document to the iCloud Drive folder. Then check the iCloud Drive folder to see if the changes appear.

Where to find missing files

When you turn on iCloud Drive, any documents that you already store in iCloud automatically move to iCloud Drive. You can see your files on iCloud.com, in the Files app on iOS 11 and later, in the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps, or in the iCloud Drive app on iOS 10 and iOS 9.

If you don't see your files in any of those locations, set up iCloud Drive on all of your devices.

If you need to access a file that you deleted within the last 30 days, you can get it back from the Recently Deleted folder in the Files app, or on iCloud.com.

If your files don't update to iCloud Drive

How to address a Resolve Conflict message

If you get a Resolve Conflict message when you open a file, choose the version of the document that you want to save. Then choose Keep to update the file in iCloud. This message means the file was updated on another device or from iCloud.com since the last time you signed in to iCloud.

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