Apple has incorporated file sharing, iCloud, and AirPlay features on Macs to make the data transfer process easier for users such as yourself. Other than these options, you can rely on using an external drive or various cloud services as well. Here, we’ll look at all the ways to share files on Mac, along with a step-by-step guide to do so.
How to Share Files on Mac?
Listed below are all the ways to share files to and from Mac computers. You can follow any one of these methods as per your preference.
Using File Sharing
The File Sharing feature on a Mac can be used to share your documents over the network. You can specify which files you want to share and who you’d like to share them with. You also have the option to give this user either the ‘Read Only’ access or the ‘Read and Write’ access. However, make sure that the devices you are planning the share the files amongst are connected to the same network. So, to share files between your Mac computers, follow the steps shown below on your 1st and 2nd Mac. Follow these steps on your 1st Mac device: Continue with these steps on your 2nd Mac,
Using iCould
iCloud is Apple’s own cloud storage system. You can use this feature to transfer your files to iCloud’s server. Then, on another device, you can download the files from the server. iCloud also lets you share your documents with other users. But, no matter who you want to share your files with, you first have to enable iCloud and upload the required data to the server. For this,
On Mac
On iDevice
To download files from the iCloud server to your other Apple devices, follow these steps:
Using AirDrop
AirDrop is Apple’s wireless data transfer line that can be used to share files to and fro between two Apple devices. The two devices trying to form a connection should be close to each other as AirDrop doesn’t support long-range data transmissions. The process to connect two devices via AirDrop is pretty basic. You’ll see the AirDrop option on your device settings, and from here, you should work to pair another system to share the files. Follow these steps:
On Mac
On iDevice
Using Mails
You can share files with yourself or with another user via your email as well. However, emails generally don’t let you transfer files larger than a few megabytes. So, if you have some documents, you could attach them to your mail and send them to the desired user. To transfer the file to another device, send the email to yourself. Then, from another computer, download the attached file to your system.
Using Cloud Services
Cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox provide more storage space than emails to transfer your files. The process is carried out in the background, and hence, you can carry out some other task while the files are being shared. The core concept of cloud services revolves around the idea of uploading your file to the particular service’s servers from one computer. Then, from another system, you can connect to that server and download the required files on your device. However, most cloud service memberships cost a few bucks, which should be renewed yearly. But, some might offer a free trial for you to transfer your files as well.
Using External Drives
External drives and USBs are probably the most straightforward way to transfer files between different computers. Most MacBooks nowadays do not come with USB ports integrated into their side panel. In this case, you can use a hub to connect multiple drives to your computer. Once you plug in the USB drive, the process of sharing the file is pretty simple. For this, follow these steps:
Using Third-Party Apps
Plenty of third-party FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client applications is available on the internet. Although some of these applications are unreliable and downright unsafe, there are still a few that gets your job done. So, through various forums and web pages, we found that FileZilla, ForkLift, and Transmit are some of the most popular and reliable file transfer clients available for Mac today.
