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File sharing is likely to come up, whether you Share Files Between Macs or just one in your house. You might want to share a financial spreadsheet, a PDF of a contract, a receipt from a purchase, or a similar document. Here are seven really simple ways to share files between two Mac computers. All of them are simple in their own way. So, the one you choose can depend on how private the document is, how easy it is to get to the services, or how much you like it.
File Sharing
The basic way to share files between Macs is to use File Sharing. To use this feature, you must activate it in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Check File Sharing. If you want to only share specific folders, or allow certain users to access them, add folders to the Shared Folders list, and then select a folder and add users in the Users list. If not, any user with an account can access your files.
AirDrop
In the Finder, choose Go > AirDrop on both Macs; the one you want to send files to, and the one you’re sending from. Drag a file onto the icon of the computer you want to send a file to. Unfortunately, AirDrop isn’t always reliable, and it does need to be active on both Macs, so you can’t easily copy files to a server or other computer, but it can be easier that messing with File Sharing if you only need to send files occasionally.
Dropbox
If you use Dropbox to store some of your files in the cloud, it seems obvious that you can easily move files from one Mac to another by putting them in your Dropbox folder. But you might think that putting large files like videos or software installers in the cloud and then downloading them isn’t a good idea when you need to send them. Dropbox has a feature called “LAN Sync” that lets it sync files to other devices on your network.
Other cloud services
If you use Google Drive, Box, or another cloud repository for your files, you can obviously place files there from one Mac and access them on another. With most of these services, you can also upload files via a web browser, so you don’t need to run their apps if you don’t want to.
FTP
This is a feature for power users. Most people won’t need it, but some may find it useful. OS X used to have a File Transfer Protocol option that let you share files with other people, but this is now kind of hidden. Enable Remote Login in the Sharing pane of System Preferences to turn on FTP (or, more accurately, SFTP, or secure FTP) on a Mac. I use Transmit to move files between my iMac and my Mac mini server. It’s useful when I need to copy a lot of files at once because I can control how many are sent at once.
What is File Sharing on Mac?
File Sharing is a feature that was first added to macOS by Apple. It’s in the Sharing preferences and lets you share files and folders on your Mac, like personal and private documents, videos, images, etc., with other users or groups on the same network. And with File Sharing, you can even let someone else use your whole Mac.
And Mac File Sharing lets you choose what type of access to give each user, such as Read & Write, Read Only, Write Only, or No Access. As cloud storage grows, which is also a way to share files over a network, people use this feature less. But it is still a key part of sharing files or moving them from Mac to Mac or Windows over the Internet.