Deleting Safari bookmarks from iCloud

[rbpeirce]

MacInWin -- There is hope. I logged onto the drive. Recovery said there are 2692 entries! There is no way to delete them. However, it appears they are aged out at 30 days. Therefore, I will wait until they go away and try this again.

 

[MacInWin]

Not sure, but I think those are just for Data Retrieval (think backup) and not involved in sync. If it were sync, I'd have some and I don't have even one. I think the issue is in iCloud Drive and what is involved there.

 

[Rod]

I don't understand why Safari bookmarks would be stored in iCloud Drive at all.

 

[Rod]

My understanding is that iCloud Drive is an optional storage area within iCloud for data you wish to share across devices. While some apps sync data via iCloud Drive like Automator, Books, Maps, Pages, even Photos, Safari is not one of them.

 

[MacInWin]

My understanding is that iCloud Drive is an optional storage area within iCloud for data you wish to share across devices. While some apps sync data via iCloud Drive like Automator, Books, Maps, Pages, even Photos, Safari is not one of them.

Typically, what gets stored includes what is normally in Documents and Desktop, particularly if "Optimize Storage" is also selected. From Apple:

Set up iCloud Drive on your Mac​

1. On your Mac, do one of the following:
   • macOS 13.3 or later: Choose Apple menu
     
     > System Settings, click [your name] at the top of the sidebar, click iCloud, click iCloud Drive, then turn on Sync this Mac.
   • macOS 13 to 13.2: Choose Apple menu
     
     > System Settings, click [your name] at the top of the sidebar, click iCloud, click iCloud Drive, click Turn On, then click Options.
   • macOS 12 or earlier: Choose Apple menu
     
     > System Preferences, click Apple ID, click iCloud, select iCloud Drive, then click Options.
2. Select or turn on any of the following:
   • Desktop & Documents Folders: When you select or turn on this option, you can access the files on your desktop and in the Documents folder on any device that has iCloud Drive turned on. See the Apple Support article Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive.
   • An app: When you select or turn on an app, it can store data in iCloud. (If apps aren’t shown, click Apps Syncing to iCloud Drive.)

Note the section about "An app" at the bottom. If Safari is selected, bookmarks will be stored on iCloud Drive. @rbpeirce says that iCloud.com shows almost 3000 items, so somewhere Safari has been selected to be on iCloud Drive. To be shared, I think what one would do is to turn on iCloud Drive, then select Settings>iCloud>Show More Apps> and toggle on Safari. I suspect that if one syncs Safari through iCloud AND turns on iCloud Drive, the bookmarks end up stored in iCloud.com as @rbpeirce is seeing. As I said before, I don't use iCloud Drive, so I cannot verify that myself, but I do know that with iCloud Drive OFF and Safari set to sync through iCloud, bookmarks sync just fine between my iPhone and Mac, complete with folders. So, right now, the only known difference between his @rbpeirce's system and mine is that he is using iCloud Drive and I am not.

 

[ferrarr]

I use iCloud Drive, and I don't have any Safari Bookmarks stored there. They do all sync to my devices.

 

[MacInWin]

I use iCloud Drive, and I don't have any Safari Bookmarks stored there. They do all sync to my devices.

OK, I'll back out, then. I have no idea how @rbpierce got 2600+ bookmarks to iCloud, given what you have.

 

[Rod]

I use iCloud Drive, and I don't have any Safari Bookmarks stored there. They do all sync to my devices.

Me too, when I go to Settings>iCloud>apps using iCloud >iCloud Drive> Apps syncing to iCloud Drive there are 20 but none of them are Safari, it's not offered as an option and you can't add.




So, I'm mystified but perhaps it just another case of confusion between iCloud and iCloud Drive. Regardless, I'm sure bookmarks are stored in iCloud (somewhere) and I'm equally sure that if Bookmarks/Bookmark Folders are deleted in Safari Bookmarks Editor then they will be deleted in all devices eventually. It might even take several days (Photos takes 30 days) but if all devices are synced under the same Apple account they will all reflect the same changes. It works for me and as said I too have iCloud Drive on.

Just to add fuel to the fire though, for example, my password manager (Enpass) syncs via iCloud Drive. If, like Jake, I did not have iCloud Drive turned on would Enpass just be added to iCloud sync?. What about the other 19 apps currently using iCloud Drive sync?

 

[Rod]

I use iCloud Drive, and I don't have any Safari Bookmarks stored there. They do all sync to my devices.

Me too, when I go to Settings>iCloud>apps using iCloud >iCloud Drive> Apps syncing to iCloud Drive there are 20 but none of them are Safari, it's not offered as an option.

 

[rbpeirce]

Typically, what gets stored includes what is normally in Documents and Desktop, particularly if "Optimize Storage" is also selected. From Apple:

Note the section about "An app" at the bottom. If Safari is selected, bookmarks will be stored on iCloud Drive. @rbpeirce says that iCloud.com shows almost 3000 items, so somewhere Safari has been selected to be on iCloud Drive. To be shared, I think what one would do is to turn on iCloud Drive, then select Settings>iCloud>Show More Apps> and toggle on Safari. I suspect that if one syncs Safari through iCloud AND turns on iCloud Drive, the bookmarks end up stored in iCloud.com as @rbpeirce is seeing. As I said before, I don't use iCloud Drive, so I cannot verify that myself, but I do know that with iCloud Drive OFF and Safari set to sync through iCloud, bookmarks sync just fine between my iPhone and Mac, complete with folders. So, right now, the only known difference between his @rbpeirce's system and mine is that he is using iCloud Drive and I am not.

So, if I turn off iCloud Drive and Safari on iPhone bookmarks are empty turning on iPhone & MBP Safari syncing should populate the iPhone with my MBP bookmarks and not screw up both? Cool. I'll give it a shot.

 

[rbpeirce]

I looked into shutting off iCloud Drive. It turns out I sync mail, calendars, etc. and it appears I need iCloud Drive to do that. Am I understanding this correctly or is app syncing independent of drive usage?

 

[MacInWin]

I looked into shutting off iCloud Drive. It turns out I sync mail, calendars, etc. and it appears I need iCloud Drive to do that. Am I understanding this correctly or is app syncing independent of drive usage?

No, iCloud DRIVE is not needed to sync Mail, Calendar, etc., through iCloud. Syncing is independed of iCloud DRIVE. Think of iCloud DRIVE as similar to Dropbox, where the files put into the DRIVE are then duplicated to the cloud location and then back to other devices sharing the same DRIVE. But in Apple's case, if you also turn on "Optimize" and let Documents and Desktop be added to iCloud DRIVE, then it gets more aggressive and takes away files from your internal drive to the iCloud DRIVE, then evicts the lesser used files from the internal drive and replaces them with a zero-data file that is a placeholder for the "real" file. When you then ask for that file, it is downloaded from iCloud DRIVE in the cloud to your local drive, assuming you are connected to the internet.

Sync does not use or need the iCloud DRIVE at all. But shutting off iCloud DRIVE, with Optimize and Desktop/Documents also set to be optimized, is a non-trivial task. Read carefully what Apple says about that in advance and be prepared for it to take a while to finish copying all the files back from the cloud to the internal drive.

And, yes, I did capitalize every instance of iCloud DRIVE to help distinguish it from just iCloud, the service.

 

[rbpeirce]

Thanks. Now how do I know if Optimize is turned on or not?

 

[rbpeirce]

Oops!! I can't turn off iCloud Drive. I use it to backup track data from the Apex Pro app.

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks. Now how do I know if Optimize is turned on or not?

System Settings>Apple ID>iCloud, look for this:

See where it says "Optimize Mac Storage"? If that is ON, then your Documents and Desktop folders are stored in iCloud. To turn it off, uncheck it, but then be prepared for some strange things to happen. What "should" happen is that the existing Desktop and Documents folders will be eliminated and new ones created that are empty. Then all of the documents stored in iCloud will be downloaded (these are "evicted" files move to make room). As I understand it, these download are NOT put in the new folders, just stored on the drive for you to move to the appropriate folders once it's done. As I said, I've never done this, so I'm going on reports from others. The good news is that once you have them all downloaded, they should be intact, just as they were.

 

[MacInWin]

Oops!! I can't turn off iCloud Drive. I use it to backup track data from the Apex Pro app.

Can you not store that data somewhere else?

 

[rbpeirce]

System Settings>Apple ID>iCloud, look for this:
View attachment 39444
See where it says "Optimize Mac Storage"? If that is ON, then your Documents and Desktop folders are stored in iCloud. To turn it off, uncheck it, but then be prepared for some strange things to happen. What "should" happen is that the existing Desktop and Documents folders will be eliminated and new ones created that are empty. Then all of the documents stored in iCloud will be downloaded (these are "evicted" files move to make room). As I understand it, these download are NOT put in the new folders, just stored on the drive for you to move to the appropriate folders once it's done. As I said, I've never done this, so I'm going on reports from others. The good news is that once you have them all downloaded, they should be intact, just as they were.

Thanks. I had it turned on so I turned it off. I don't anticipate anything weird happening but we'll see.

 

[rbpeirce]

Can you not store that data somewhere else?

Unfortunately the app does this and I have no control over it. It is actually the only thing stored on the drive. Everything else just seems to be somewhere in iCloud.

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks. I had it turned on so I turned it off. I don't anticipate anything weird happening but we'll see.

Did you read what I said? It's not simple to just turn off. But, now that you've done that, wait, wait, wait, until it finishes downloading all of your stuff. Depending on your network connection, it could be hours to days.

As for the app that demands iCloud Drive, what happens if you turn off iCloud Drive? What does the app then indicate about that? I've never heard of an app that demands cloud storage.

 

[rbpeirce]

Did you read what I said? It's not simple to just turn off. But, now that you've done that, wait, wait, wait, until it finishes downloading all of your stuff. Depending on your network connection, it could be hours to days.

As for the app that demands iCloud Drive, what happens if you turn off iCloud Drive? What does the app then indicate about that? I've never heard of an app that demands cloud storage.

I think I'll be ok. I did read what you said, but I never consciously used iCloud for anything. It was just there. I would worry about Safari except I have syncing turned off for the next month. I desktop or documents gets screwed up I can re-install from backups.

As for the Apex Pro app, if I turn off the drive I will lose the ability to backup the data. Currently I use it to restore any data not currently on my phone. If I shut down the drive I will have to develop some sort of manual backup process. I need to think about that.