Home > Articles > Home & Office Computing > Mac OS X

This chapter is from the book

Exploring Unique iCloud Services

It’s pretty easy to describe the use of features like Contacts and Safari bookmark syncing, and they fall neatly into place in many of this book’s chapters. There are a few “unique” iCloud services that are important to cover, but don’t quite fit as cleanly elsewhere. One such service, for example, enables you to find your Mac on a map, should it be lost or stolen. Another provides direct access to your contacts, events, and mail from a web interface no matter where you are. Rather than leave these topics out, they are covered in the following tasks.

Accessing iCloud Applications Online

After you activate iCloud services like Mail, Calendaring, and Reminders, you can log into Apple’s online iCloud service and use web applications that resemble their Mac counterparts. To access iCloud applications, do the following:

  1. Open a current version of a web browser (Safari, Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox, or Chrome) and browse to http://www.icloud.com.
  2. Enter your Apple ID and Password.
  3. Click the Remember Me checkbox if you’d like to be able to access iCloud from your computer without logging in again.
  4. Click the arrow to log in.

  5. Click the icon of the application you want to launch.

  6. Use the web application as you would the desktop version. If your app makes changes to data, those changes will be pushed out to all your iCloud-connected devices.
  7. Click the Cloud menu to jump to other applications.
  8. Close your browser when finished.

Using Find My Mac

To turn on Find My Mac and make your Mac location available via the iCloud website, follow these steps:

  1. If you haven’t already, activate Find My Mac using the technique described in “Managing iCloud Services,” earlier in this chapter.

  2. If prompted, click Allow on the Allow Find My Mac to Use the Location dialog.

  3. If you need to find your Mac, go to iCloud.com in a browser on any Internet-connected device and log in. Click Find My iPhone.

  4. Click All Devices to show the list of tracked devices.
  5. Click the name of your Mac in the list.

  6. The Mac’s location is highlighted on the map.
  7. The web app displays options for sending a message/playing a sound on the computer, locking it, or wiping the contents of the hard drive.

Using Documents and Data

The Documents and Data feature of iCloud is meant to make it easy to work on a document in one location, and then open it again in another.

Before starting, be sure to activate Documents and Data using the steps described at the end of the “Activating iCloud Services” section, earlier in this chapter.

Saving Your Mac Files to iCloud

  1. Edit the file as you normally would in an application of your choice (be aware that not all applications support iCloud at this time).

  2. Choose File, Move To from the menu bar.

    04fig17.jpg
  3. When prompted for a filename, set the “Where” location to iCloud.
  4. Click Move to save the file to iCloud.

Opening iCloud Files on Your Mac

To open a file that you’ve saved in iCloud (from any iCloud-connected device), first open the same application you used to create the file, and then follow these steps:

  1. Choose File, Open.

  2. Make sure iCloud is selected in the dialog.
  3. Use the icon and list buttons at the bottom of the dialog to switch between icon and list views.
  4. Click the file you want to work with.
  5. Click Open. The file opens and you can begin working with it wherever you left off, no matter which device you were using.

Opening iCloud Files in iCloud

If you save a file to iCloud using Pages, Keynote, or Numbers on your Mac or iOS device, you can open and edit the file with nothing more than your web browser. To do this, first follow the steps in the earlier task “Accessing iCloud Applications Online.”

  1. Use the iCloud webpage to choose the application whose files you want to open.

  2. The application opens, displaying all the files you saved to iCloud from your Mac.
  3. Drag and drop new files into the empty area of the web browser to upload them.
  4. Double-click a file you want to work with.

  5. The file opens and you can begin working with it directly in your browser.

Moving Existing Files to and from iCloud

If you create a document locally (such as on your desktop) and want it to be available everywhere, you need to move it to iCloud. Similarly, if you want to take a document that has been shared via iCloud and move it so only a single copy exists on your Mac, you need to move it locally. To move in either direction, first open the file in your application of choice, and then follow these steps:

  1. Click the filename in the window’s title bar to open a pop-over window.
  2. Click the Where pop-up menu to view the locations where you can send the file.

  3. To move a local file to iCloud, choose iCloud or a folder within iCloud.
  4. Choose a local destination to move the file to your local machine.
  5. Choose Other to pick from any destination on your computer.
  6. Click outside the pop-over window to save your changes.

When viewing files in the iCloud Open File dialog, you can create whatever file organization you like by dragging the icons around—it works exactly like the Launchpad organization covered in Chapter 2, “Making the Most of Your Screen Space.” Drag a file onto another file, and a folder/group is automatically created. Drag files out of the folder, and the folder disappears. If you’re used to working with Launchpad or iOS, you’ll have no problem organizing your iCloud documents.

Using Photo Sharing

Another extremely useful (and fun) feature of iCloud is Photo Sharing. Photo Sharing automatically keeps copies of your most recent 1,000 photos taken using iOS devices and makes sure that your Mac has copies of them all. It also enables you to share collections of photos with anyone you’d like.

Enabling Photo Sharing

To get started, enable and configure Photo Sharing in iCloud. To enable the service, follow these steps:

  1. Open the iCloud System Preferences panel.

  2. Enable the Photos item.
  3. Click the Options button beside the Photos line.

  4. Click the My Photo Stream checkbox to keep all of your latest photos synced between devices.
  5. Enable the Photo Sharing option to share photos with individuals that you select.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Close the Preferences window.

Viewing Shared Photos

To view your shared photos and photo stream, you need to use iPhoto. If you don’t have it installed, you can download it from the App Store.

  1. Open iPhoto from the Applications folder or Launchpad.

  2. Click the iCloud icon in the left iPhoto navigation pane.
  3. Your shared photos are displayed.
  4. Double-click an album.

  5. The album opens and the pictures display.

Sharing Photos

To share your photos with others, you also use iPhoto.

  1. Open iPhoto from the Applications folder or Launchpad.

  2. Navigate to a photo collection (Events, Albums, Faces, Places, and so on) or select a group of photos from the Photos section.

  3. Click the Share button and choose iCloud.

  4. Choose an existing shared album, or click the + icon to create a new shared album.

  5. Enter the addresses for people who should be able to access the shared album, the name of the album, and any comments.
  6. Check Subscribers Can Post to allow comments from people viewing your photos.
  7. Check Public Website to publish a publicly accessible version of your photos.
  8. Click Share to begin sharing!

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020