ICloud drive abruptly stopped synchronizing on one of my Macs. After freaking out, I logged out of my … iCloud account? Apple ID account? What is the current terminology? After logging back in and waiting, it appeared that everything showed up. It required a whole lot of password entering (to disable FindMy, I think do something else, complete the logout, login, verify, I think do something else, enable FindMy, I think do something else, and maybe I’ve forgotten something) and then resetting options, which is why I’m here. (If someone can tell me why the Mac stopped synchronizing, I would appreciate it. If someone can suggest a less painful way to restore synchronization, I would appreciate it.)
In System Preferences (macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur) > Apple ID > iCloud, there is a list under “Apps on this Mac using iCloud”. The top item is iCloud Drive, and it has a button “Options…”. If I click that button, I get a popup with two choices, one of which is Documents. That option presents a list under “Apps that store documents and data in iCloud will appear here:” with Desktop & Documents Folders and many apps. What is the difference between the two lists? Mail appears in both, but I think it’s the only app that does. The second list includes non-Apple apps, but it includes Apple apps, too. It includes BBEdit, which I have unchecked, but an empty BBEdit folder appears at the root level of my iCloud folder in the Finder (and reappears if I delete it, but not immediately). Numbers appears in the second list and is unchecked, but I do save a Numbers document in iCloud so I can access it from multiple devices. In other words, things that appear to be disabled seem to access iCloud. Why? What would happen if I unchecked the Mail option on the second list? on the first list? Thanks for any enlightenment.
If anyone cares, I have the free iCloud (5 GB), so I do not synchronize Photos or Desktop & Documents Folders or several other choices.