If you are sharing a file with someone you should know if they can use that file. Communicate with them to decide beforehand if you are unsure.

I don't think there are any actions that will help make it quicker.

Possibly. I can't remember when they added file sharing and Sierra may simply be before that.

Tap and hold the file in the Files app, select Share and go from there.

Depends on the app and how you are sharing it. With an app like Pages, for instance, if you collaborate on a document you can both work on it in real time.

I suppose. Not sure if that is the right tool for the job though. You may have to switch on an off a checkbox to force the cells and conditional highlighting to update. Seems like what you really want is a pro-level to-do or project management app or something.

So you are talking about albums in photos, not folders in the Finder? There you would create shared albums. You can't share a folder of albums as folders are just ways to organize your albums. You have to share the albums themselves.

@@macmost Thanks for responding! No, these are just regular photos (not albums) that I have tried to sort into named folders for some organization. The parent folder is called Photos, inside this one would be sibling folders named Vacations, another one named Family Holidays, and another named Friends etc. I have a total of 5 right now. So the parent folder is just labeled as a Photos folder that holds two (or more) other folders of just photos. When I tried sharing the parent folder, only one of the 5 were actually shared. I was under the impression that if I shared one parent folder with 5 other sibling folders inside that they would all show up the other persons iCloud Drive, Hope I am explaining this right. It seems like I may have to make 5 separate shares for proper viewing.

@@golfnut1982 Not sure what is going on there. The complete contents of the folder should be shared.

@@macmost I’m perplexed too. If you think of anything, let me know. Appreciate your help.

You can. View, Show View Options. Turn off Shared By.

@@macmost ​​⁠ Unless I’m overlooking something, not quite. You’re in List view. And even then, if you hide the “Shared by” column, those labels just pop over to right of folder / file names. In Column view you can’t hide Shared by at all. Oh well 🤷🏻‍♂️

You wouldn't use this for an iMovie project. That's just too big. It would take a long time to upload for you, and download for them. This is more for regular documents.

That's not how it works. iCloud Calendar and Google Calendar are both calendar services. You share a calendar in either service with another person. For instance, in the Calendar app on a Mac you can view both iCloud calendars and Google calendars (and many other services too). If you want to share an iCloud calendar with another person it is up to them how they view it (in whatever calendar app they are using). If they aren't savvy and don't use a calendar app, then your only choice is to share using the service they are using.

@@macmost I really appreciate this. You are and being wished the best, Gary.

No, it should be exactly the file you sent. No change is made. Check what you are doing carefully.

@macmost But your video showed a .pages file arriving as a .txt file. When did you change it?

@@cmarlow41 Not sure what you are referring to. Is there a time in the video where you see that?

@@macmost at 1:36 you highlight the file named An Example.pages and then at 5:12 you click on the link to open the file and it is now Example Shared file.txt. I guess I was just focused on the .txt and previously had not noticed that the file name also changed.

Right. That would happen with any document file you send where the person on the other end doesn't have the app, not just Pages.

This will work, but the challenge is that you may have a bunch of huge files to share. But if you have plenty of iCloud space and you all have fast connections then you can put it up there for them to grab.

@@macmost Thank you so much for responding so quickly. The videos are so valuable now 15+ years old with children growing up so this will be short term pain for long term gain - I hope. You are always my MAC advisor of choice so thank you for what you do for us. I learn something from all your videos. Very best Jon.

If it is a public link, then sure. Same if you sent them an attachment - they could forward it to anyone or post it anywhere they like.

Not sure why it is missing for you, sorry. Just use the Copy link option and then send the email yourself. I prefer and use that way myself.

What steps are you taking, exactly?

@macmost I'm running the latest OS on a Studio. For test purposes, I create a folder in iCloud, add a screenshot then right click, also went to File menu, but the option is greyed out

@@macmost I just got handled, thank you! Was permissions or some such

So a second layer of protection? You can zip it or make a disk image with a password, for instance? So then the other person needs permission to get the shared folder, and then they also need the password to open it.

You don't need to "share" with yourself. If you have two devices and they are both using the same Apple ID then you'd be looking at the SAME iCloud Drive on both. So you'd see the same files. No "sharing" needed.

@@macmost yes, but the syncing isn’t immediate and there’s no obvious way I can see to update the sync. I was fiddling with this for over an hour today and ended up airdropping to myself. It’s a strange issue to have since both devices are also connected to the same (relatively decent) wifi.

@@OlivesD Should be close to immediate unless the file is huge. Also, if one of your devices is on battery and not near full then iCloud syncing can often be delayed as a battery-saving tactic.

@@macmost Thank you. Your thoughts gave me something to think about. I don't think it's a battery issue though because I took it all home and plugged it all into power sources and this today on my mac it's showing that the last sync was 20 hrs ago. I've tried toggling the iCloud sync button off and on again, but still no go yet. The files aren't large, so I think it might be a VPN issue?

@@OlivesD iCloud sync button? Do you mean you switched iCloud off and on again? Don't do that again as there are repercussions that you need to consider. Could be VPN. Why are you using a VPN at home? Try it with the VPN off.

In the iCloud web interface, move your pointer over the file, then click the three-dots button. Then choose Collaborate With Others.

Yes. Do you know and trust the owner? If so, what's the issue? If not, then ignore and delete the message.

I hit the link and scrolled up to watch a video sent from the same source and it showed up on that link while I did not consent to open it so I quickly deleted the photo sent well they know it was opened. I never even got an open/not now option? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Will they see i opened the link?

@@Atreyu1127 I think if you accepted the collaboration then they would have seen that at the time. But if you have left they won't see it anymore.

Thankx

yeah.. here too

“Download a copy” only appears when you are sharing a single file. If you share a folder with multiple files inside then the option doesn’t appear. The workaround is to make a zip folder for the multiple files, and then just share the individual zip file, then the “Download a copy” option should appear.

@@sirzackefeller yeah thanks just realized that later :) my bad

Yes, you can remove a single person. Try it and see.

@@macmost I tried everything. Doesn’t work on non iCloud employees. Can you pls make a video on that? Can’t figure out :( Also if i want to create a new link and deactivate the old one for old employees not to have access. Can we do that?

@@tjmanou6422 Sorry, I don't know what the issue could have been.

Are you sure you have iCloud Photos enabled on both machines, and they are both using the same Apple ID? If so, then you should see them. Call Apple Support if you don't.