To assess the potential for recovering space open Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Manage Storage to see what apps take up GBs of online storage. For me: Photos - 141GB, Backups - 42 GB, iCloud Drive - 5 GB, Pixelmator 2 GB and Mail - 1 GB. Attachments in the Mail app are probably the culprit. Pixelmator creates an in-app Gallery and the layered files have .pxm extension and the details on screen show my file sizes range from 14 MB to 160 MB. (The power of layers increases file size exponentially.) Pixelmator is a smart app and can save work to either iCloud or the device itself. Saving to iPhone is different than saving to iPad. To clear our the Pixelmator Gallery, use the ( ... ) > Select > tap a file or two > Share > Airdrop to computer. Airdropped files can be found in the Downloads folder. Move this files to an external drive where other files are archived.
LESSON #1
Back to Photos - where the Library only continues to grow. In addition to moving recent video clips and RAW images to my computer and external drive there is more work to do. The video files are from three recent Today at Apple workshops and follow-up practice. No need to keep these clips in iCloud, they can go to the external drive. Once video clips have been moved then select clips and delete. To move many video files, open Photos > Albums > Media Types: Videos > Select > tap to mark videos (36) > Share > AirDrop to computer. First the videos need to download from iCloud then are copied over. The list is highlighted on my Mac so Control + Click brings up menu with New Folder with 36 Items ... give the folder a meaningful name. Tap Done on the iPhone > while the clips are still selected > Trash. But wait! If you are using Cinematic Mode for video, you are capturing additional information and details in sidecar data. Adjust your options: Photos > Albums > Media Types: Cinematic > Select > tap to mark videos 11) > Share > Options > All Photos Data ON > Done > AirDrop to computer. Again, move the copied FOLDERS into a new folder while the selection is active in the Finder. Look inside the folders to see the .mov and .MOV and .AAE files. Did you also notice two files have been renamed - one includes "E" and the other "O" with the number? What does this mean? So much to learn about moving clips with "All Photos Data" to an archive and then restoring the clips and sidecars for full editing capability in the future. Cinematic Mode in video is like Portrait Mode in photos. The point of focus can be changed in post production. The depth map must accompany the file to make those changes.
Photos, oh Photos. I've been making lots of stylized duplicate images for future machinations or collages and there needs to be modifications to my general workflow.
Patterns, texture and stylized images need to be available for new work on iPad Pro. The USB-C connector makes a huge contribution here because the images can be saved to or opened from a thumb drive. The Files app is the connecting glue, especially if the photo editing apps can browse for images using the Files > Locations > iPad, iCloud Drive or external drive options. Apps that recognize more than the Photo Library are key: RAW Power, Pixelmator Photo, xxx (more to be listed soon).
Thumb drive is 64 GB of storage for images, videos and other documents. This content will be backed up to a Western Digital 2 TB drive with my iPhone Vault (images archived from iPhone for long-term storage, printing and, originally, a Lightroom Catalog. The WD drive is backed up to a duplicate kept at home and a duplicate kept off-site. The content on the WD drive should be re-organized into subfolders for easier retrieval in preparation for new collages. I see finding many images and copying back to a thumb drive as if selecting a color palette and size of canvas to begin work.
LESSON #2
Copy and Paste of images is sometimes an option. Try testing the process with file types - JPG would be fine; TIF is a larger file size; HEIF is newer file type; DNG is RAW - does the photo editing app recognize all current formats on external media? Does the photo editing app recognize all formats if available in the Photos Library? Adjust workflow as needed.
On iPad, start at the current month in Photos Library and work backwards to the past. The routine is: Select > Share > Save to Files > external drive > archive folder | Select same images > Trash. Move back into earlier weeks/months and repeat. This is also an opportunity to rediscover photos to include in new projects! Add a Caption for future searches. This culling process will take many sessions. At the end of a session, make a screenshot of the current location in Photos Library to begin again - use Markup to add notes on the image for the external drive used. Make an optional screenshot of the Photos > Utilities > Recently Deleted to record the currently removed images. In 29 days these images will be automatically deleted. However, once I've confirmed the files are backed up to my external WD drives then the Recently Deleted files can be ... trashed before their expiration date to recover some space.
