iCloud: Managing your iCloud storage

When you back up your iCloud Storage, the most important data on your iOS device is automatically backed up, including your Camera Roll photos and videos and your third-party apps (for example, Facebook apps). See this article for more information about iCloud Backup and restore.

To control how much iCloud storage you want to use for backups, you can select the specific application data you would like to back up, delete entire device backups from your iCloud storage and turn off Backup for that iOS device, or save photos and videos from your Camera Roll locally to your computer to reduce the size of your iCloud storage backup. You can manage your backups from an iOS device (iOS 5 or later), Mac (OS X Lion and Mountain Lion), or a Windows computer, as described below.

Selecting which applications to back up

Deleting backups and turning off Backup for your device

• iOS device
1. Tap Settings, and then tap the iCloud icon.
2. Tap Storage & Backup.
3. Tap Manage Storage.
4. Tap your iOS device in the Backups area.
5. Tap Delete Backup.
6. You will be asked to confirm this change. Deleting this backup will also turn off Backup of your iOS device. Choose Delete if you want to turn off Backup and remove all backups for this iOS device from iCloud.
• Mac OS X
1. From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click iCloud.
3. Click the Manage button to view stored data.
4. Click the Backups tab.
5. Choose the Backup for a specific device in the list provided, and select Delete to remove it from iCloud. 
6. You will be asked to confirm this change. Deleting this backup will also turn off Backup of your iOS device. Choose Delete if you want to turn off Backup and remove all backups for this iOS device from iCloud.
• Windows 8, Windows 7, and Vista
1. Open the Windows Control Panel:
   • In Windows 8, move the pointer to the upper-right corner of the screen to show the Charms bar, click the Search charm, and then click the iCloud Control Panel on the left.
   • In Windows 7 and Vista, choose Start > All Programs > iCloud > iCloud.
2. In the iCloud Control Panel for Windows, click Manage to view your iCloud storage.
3. Click Backup.
4. Choose the backup for a specific device in the list provided, and select Delete to remove it from iCloud. 
5. You will be asked to confirm this change. Deleting this backup will also turn off backup of your iOS device. Choose Delete if you want to turn off Backup and remove all backups for this iOS device from iCloud. 

Reducing the size of your Camera Roll backup

You can manage your stored iCloud documents from an iOS device (iOS 5 or later), Mac (OS X Lion and Mountain Lion), or a Windows computer that meets the iCloud system requirements. iWork documents for iOS apps are also accessible on iCloud.com. Follow the steps below to delete an existing document.

• iOS device
1. Tap Settings on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
2. Tap iCloud.
3. Tap Storage & Backup.
4. Tap Manage Storage. Under the Documents & Data area, choose the app from which you want to delete data (such as Pages). This displays any documents in iCloud for that app.
5. Tap Edit, select the item, and choose Delete. The document or data will be removed from your storage allocation and from all of your devices.
• Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion
1. From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences. 
2. Click iCloud, and verify that you are signed in.
3. Click the Manage button to view the data you have stored in iCloud.
4. Select any of the apps below Manage Storage, select the document or data you wish to delete from that app, and click the Delete button to remove the item. The data will be removed from your storage allocation and from all of your devices.
• Mac OS X Mountain Lion (Alternate Option)
1. Open an application that supports Documents in the Cloud (such as Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Preview, or TextEdit).
2. From the iCloud Documents Library window, find the document you wish to remove.
3.  Control-click the document to raise the Action menu. 
4. Select "Move to Trash." In the confirmation window asking if you wish to remove the document from iCloud, click Delete. The document will be removed from your storage allocation and from all of your devices.
• Windows 8, Windows 7, and Vista 
1. Open the Windows Control Panel:
   • In Windows 8, move the pointer to the upper-right corner of the screen to show the Charms bar, click the Search charm, and then click the iCloud Control Panel on the left.
   • In Windows 7 and Vista, choose Start > All Programs > iCloud > iCloud.
2. In the iCloud Control Panel for Windows, click Manage to view your iCloud storage.
3. Choose an app below Manage Storage, choose the document or data you wish to delete from that app, and click Delete to remove them. The data will be removed from your storage allocation and from all of your devices.
• iCloud.com (iWork documents only):
1. Sign in to your iCloud account at iCloud.com.
2. Click the iWork icon.
3. Click the Keynote, Pages, or Numbers section to locate the document.
4. Click a specific document to highlight it.
5. Click the gear icon on the top-right of the page, and choose Delete.
6. The document will be deleted from iCloud and removed from your storage allocation, as well as all of your devices.

You can free up additional iCloud Storage space at any time by deleting email messages from your iCloud email account. Remember that messages with large attachments will free up more space than simple text emails. Follow the steps below to delete messages from your account.

• Desktop email applications: If you are using iCloud Mail with a desktop email application such as Mac OS X Mail or Microsoft Outlook, follow the directions below:
  
  • Mac OS X Mail: Select and delete any messages you want to delete. This will move them to your Trash. To delete messages from Trash, go to Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items, and then choose your iCloud email account.
  • Microsoft Outlook 2007 (Windows PC): Select and delete any messages you want to delete. To permanently remove the messages, go to Edit > Purge, and choose your iCloud account.
  • Microsoft Outlook 2010 (Windows PC): Select and delete any messages you want to delete. Outlook 2010 will permanently delete your messages the next time you close and restart Outlook.
    
• iCloud.com: Sign in with your Apple ID email address and password at iCloud.com, and navigate to the Mail application. You can delete unneeded messages from any of the listed mailboxes, and then empty your Trash by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right and choosing Empty Trash.
• iOS device: If your iOS device is configured to access iCloud email, you can delete messages from any mailbox, and then empty the Trash to free up space. Swipe your finger across any message to delete it. In your Trash folder, you can delete messages one at a time, or tap the Edit button, and then Delete All to delete all the messages from your Trash at once.

You can also move email messages from your iOS device to the local folders on your Mac or PC, where they no longer count against your iCloud Storage. See the "Mail & Notes" section in this article for more information about saving email messages locally to your computer.