iCloud Drive Help needed

[DaveWT]

Looks like I have created a real mess. It will probably take a call to Apple to resolve but I thought I would throw it out here.

I have 2 AppleIDs (yes, a mistake made years ago and now not correctible.) One is used for all my purchases (music, apps etc.) - call this AppleID #1 and the other is the one I use to sync my stuff between the Mac and the iPhone. - call this AppleID #2

I logged into iCloud.com using AppleID #1 and went to my iCloud drive. I uploaded 5 videos. There are no other files showing for this iCloud drive. For each video in turn I turned on sharing (to anyone with the link) and copied the resulting link that was created. I later sent out an email and this included each of the 5 links I had just created.

If I log out of iCloud.com and log back in using AppleID #2 and then look at the iCloud drive, it shows files put there years ago.

The receiver of my email can click on any of the 5 links i provided and not only see the corresponding video but also they see the contents of iCloud drive from AppleID #2 including files for which I have never set up sharing. I am sure I have done this sort of thing in the past and got the result I had expected. Has something changed in macOS 14.1?

 

[chas_m]

I don't know the answer to this one -- I think a call to Apple is probably in order.

They will not merge your two Apple IDs, but perhaps they can help explain why the contents of iCloud Drive #2 is showing in the links provided for iCloud Drive #1.

 

[DaveWT]

I spent an hour and a half with Apple Support folks today (3 levels ending with a supervisor). They did screen sharing at each level and at the second level, the support person looked at my iCloud Drive settings for the files I had shared and was amazed she couldn't see how to configure them to differentiate between "collaboration" and simple sharing of the files. It appears that my files are properly set for simple sharing, but the recipient (at least if an Apple device user) sees an indication they will be collaborating. So I believe this is a change in 14.1 or perhaps a previous version of macOS since I last used this stuff with different results, and Support hasn't caught up.

The good news is that when an Apple device recipient receives the video and gets shown the contents of an iCloud drive, it is THEIR iCloud drive contents and not mine, so not a security threat. But one issue is that the recipient won't just be able to view the videos, they will also be put into his iCloud Drive, so if he is still on the free 5 GB plan and I send a lot of these videos, I will be filling up his iCloud drive.

I also found (by sending the original email) that a person receiving the email on a Windows device, they get a more expected dialog with a button to save the file (to their default place such received downloads normally go.) One of the original recipients of the email who I know to use a Windows device confirmed he saw the intended video(s) only and no extra files. I also sent the email to a friend and asked him to open it on his Windows PC (rather than his iPhone) and he also confirmed he saw the videos only and no extra files.

While I had the supervisor on the line, I also questioned him on a separate issue. If I put a lot of videos directly into an email (rather than putting links to those videos) and thereby creating a huge email to send, once I hit the SEND button, sometimes a dialog box drops down warning me of the large email size and offers to let me use MailDrop instead. Other times with a similar large email with several videos it just sends the email off directly without offering MailDrop. He did a lot of waffling but never came up with a clear explanation of the difference. I did a test of that with the same friend today and it appears even when I didn't get the offer to use MailDrop it did send the large email using MailDrop anyway as the friend received the wording "tap to download" rather than seeing the videos directly in the email.

So not quite sure how I will proceed the next time I have one of these emails to send out. I guess I prefer MailDrop of the actual videos themselves rather than trying the sharing method from iCloud drive. Easier for me and it spares filling up the recipient's iCloud drive.

 

[chas_m]

The reason the Apple rep couldn't give you a clear answer is because the answer is "it depends on the recipient's provider." Some recipients have lots of mailbox space, like Gmail recipients (unless it's nearly full already, as could apply to anyone). Some recipients may have a pathetically small mailbox, like Shaw/Rogers email users.

I'd **STRONGLY** suggest you not email videos to anyone, ever, that are longer than a minute or so. Instead, put it in a cloud storage place and send the recipient only the link. That way you're not filling up their inbox.

 

[DaveWT]

Thanks Chas, More clarity on what is going on...