Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

iCloud Drive desktop documents sync

Apple has been chasing the success and functionality of Dropbox for some time and their latest iteration, iCloud drive, is not an equal either. I do not recommend using desktop and documents sync. Like Filevault, they are trying to get you to implement it by default but it turns things into a big mess. For 20 years your desktop and documents folder have resided in the Home directory. Now Apple makes those folders invisible and places aliases into the iCloud directory. This means if you don't see that coming, you'll most likely be very confused as to where everything went.

I get a lot of complaints "where did all my stuff go?" This also causes your desktop to continuously sync with the cloud which means you pay a price in performance. If you are working locally on a project that lives temporarily on your desktop, as many of us do, now the computer is split between syncing to the cloud and you working on the file. Imagine trying to cut video that lives in the dropbox folder. Not a good way of doing things.

Apple will continue to improve iCloud functionality and it will most likely surpass dropbox at some point, but for now, stay away from it.
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