Migrate iCloud Drive to Dropbox — Transfer Files with RcloneView
Moving away from iCloud Drive usually means downloading everything to a Mac first — RcloneView connects to both clouds directly and transfers files without that local detour.
Leaving the Apple ecosystem, switching to a cross-platform team, or simply consolidating storage in Dropbox all lead to the same problem: iCloud Drive doesn't offer a native export to another cloud provider. The typical workaround is downloading the entire library to a local disk and re-uploading it to Dropbox, which doubles the transfer time and eats local disk space you may not have to spare. RcloneView, backed by rclone v1.69+ for iCloud Drive support, connects to both remotes at once and moves files cloud-to-cloud directly.
Manage & Sync All Clouds in One Place
RcloneView is a cross-platform GUI for rclone. Compare folders, transfer or sync files, and automate multi-cloud workflows with a clean, visual interface.
- One-click jobs: Copy · Sync · Compare
- Schedulers & history for reliable automation
- Works with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, S3, WebDAV, SFTP and more
Free core features. Plus automations available.
Connecting iCloud Drive and Dropbox
iCloud Drive requires rclone v1.69 or later, which ships with RcloneView's embedded rclone by default — no separate setup needed. Add the iCloud Drive remote with your Apple account credentials, then add Dropbox through its OAuth browser login. Both remotes then appear as tabs in the Explorer, and you can open them side by side in a two-panel layout to browse each library before starting the transfer. RcloneView mounts AND syncs 90+ providers from one window, on Windows, macOS, and Linux, so this same workflow works whether the migration is happening from a Mac or a Windows machine managing a family's shared Apple storage.
Running the Migration as a Sync Job
Rather than dragging folders one at a time, set up a one-way sync job in the 4-step wizard: source is iCloud Drive, destination is Dropbox, direction is "Modifying destination only" so nothing on the iCloud side gets altered. For a large photo or document library, running a Dry Run first shows exactly what will copy before any data moves, which is worth doing given how much personal content tends to accumulate in iCloud Drive over the years.
Monitoring the Transfer and Confirming Completion
Large libraries take time, especially for substantial photo or document collections. The Transferring tab shows live progress, speed, and file counts, while Job History records the completed run with total size and any errored files so you can spot anything that needs a retry. If a transfer is interrupted mid-way, RcloneView's automatic retry setting reruns the sync (default 3 attempts) to pick up anything that didn't complete.
Getting Started
- Download RcloneView from rcloneview.com.
- Add your iCloud Drive remote (requires rclone v1.69+, included by default) and your Dropbox remote via OAuth login.
- Run a Dry Run to preview the files that will transfer before committing.
- Create a one-way sync job and monitor it through to completion in Job History.
Once the sync job is set up, repeating the transfer for newly added files takes a single click instead of another manual export.
Related Guides:
- Migrate iCloud Drive to Google Drive — Transfer Files with RcloneView
- Migrate iCloud Drive to OneDrive — Transfer Files with RcloneView
- Manage iCloud Drive Storage — Sync and Backup Files with RcloneView
Supported Cloud Providers
