How to Use iCloud Drive for Windows 1

How to Use iCloud Drive for Windows

At its core, iCloud Drive is not a revolutionary new idea in cloud computing. In fact, it only draws inspiration from cloud storage solutions like Apple, DropBox, and OneDrive. It might be a recycled idea, iCloud Drive can and will be a very useful tool for anyone with an iPhone running Apple’s iOS 8 operating system. In theory, moving files between Windows machines and Apple’s iCloud storage service is a bit of a disappointment.

Here’s how to use iCloud Drive for Windows.

Getting Setup with iCloud Drive for Windows

Before we get started, it’s important that you actually have iCloud Drive on your machine. With the latest updates and downloads from iTunes, iCloud Drive seems to be installing itself. That being said, it’s a separate download that anyone can grab from Apple’s website anytime. You can download iCloud Drive here. Just click the download button. iCloud Drive for Windows only takes a few minutes to set up. After iCloud Drive has finished installing, you will be prompted to restart your computer. iCloud Drive is not compatible with Windows Vista or Windows XP.

Another thing you need is an iCloud Account. Apple still hasn’t changed its mind about allowing only users with Apple hardware to get an iCloud Account. If you are a long-time iPhone or iPad user, you can grant our Apple ID iCloud privileges by entering the iCloud settings Menu on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. If you’re a new iPhone user, you’ll need to get your device in before you can actually activate an iCloud account and get to work.

Using iCloud Drive for Windows

After setting up an iCloud Account and iCloud Drive on your Windows PC, everything is pretty neat. Every time your computer starts up, iCloud Drive will be there in the background. Depending on the settings you choose, your photos and bookmarks will always stay in the background, updating to Apple’s iCloud servers. In turn, this updated content will always be available on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or online at iCloud.com.

The fun begins when you sign in with your iCloud account.

First, let’s talk about iCloud Drive itself. iCloud Drive is exactly like OneDrive or Dropbox. Users simply drop something in the iCloud Drive folder and it’s instantly uploaded to iCloud, then synced to other places like another PC or a Mac with iCloud Drive installed. After installing iCloud Drive, click the checkmark next to iCloud Drive and press the button. You will be prompted for your Apple ID password again.

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How to Use iCloud Drive for Windows (1)

To add files to iCloud Drive and have them synced, go to your user account and look for the iCloud Drive button. Adding something to iCloud Drive is as simple as opening the file in another folder and dragging it to the iCloud Drive folder. The iCloud Drive app you install takes care of everything else. Of course, you’ll need an internet connection before files placed on iCloud drive start showing up elsewhere.

How to Use iCloud Drive for Windows (2)

By default, Apple only provides users with 5GB of storage to get started. What this means is that files dropped into iCloud Drive should take up less storage together, otherwise iCloud Drive won’t be able to sync everything. Fortunately, users can add additional storage in different increments. Getting 20GB of extra storage costs $0.99 per month. Getting 200GB of additional storage costs iCloud users $3.99 per month. Since you can store and sync almost anything in iCloud Drive, you can move all your folders to iCloud Drive folder for synchronization. It would be a pretty hassle-free way to make sure all your essentials are backed up should something happen to your device.

How to Use iCloud Drive for Windows (4)

iCloud Drive allows photos to be synced the same as iCloud Drive sync. Synchronization of bookmarks from installed browsers is possible, but you need to enable it for the browser you want to sync. Supported browsers include Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Unfortunately, not everything in iCloud Drive may work out of the box. iCloud Drive requires a version of Microsoft’s Outlook productivity app to be installed before it can display contacts, calendar entries, and reminders on Windows PCs. To get this information without Outlook, you need to go to the iCloud Drive website.

Apple has always updated software and services on the day of its release each year that allow users to get the most out of their upcoming iPhone. This was no different with the iPhone 6, and today Windows users can interact with Apple’s iCloud service directly from the desktop using a new software plug-in called iCloud Drive. Cloud storage has grown in importance over the past few years, but that’s not the funny thing. For now, iCloud Drive is only available on devices running Microsoft’s Windows operating system. It’s coming to Mac machines with OS X Yosemite this fall.

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