macOS can mount remote storage as a volume in Finder without installing anything. Files appear in a folder, you save into them, and the transfer step stops existing.
This is the single highest-leverage change for anyone repeatedly sending files to the same people.
Connect the volume
In Finder, choose Go → Connect to Server, or press ⌘K.
Enter the WebDAV URL for your storage. Click the + button to save it as a favourite so you are not typing it again.
Sign in with your username and an app password or access credential rather than your main account password. This matters: a credential scoped to one purpose can be revoked without changing anything else, and it will not be sitting in the system keychain alongside your primary login.
The volume appears in the Finder sidebar and behaves like any other disk. Open, save, drag, rename, and Quick Look all work through normal applications.
Change this default before you do anything else
Finder writes a .DS_Store file into every folder it displays, recording icon
positions and view settings. On a local disk this is harmless clutter. On a
network volume it is worse than that.
It creates write traffic for folders you only browsed. It leaves metadata files scattered through shared storage that colleagues on Windows and Linux will see as mysterious junk. And on a slow link it makes browsing measurably worse, because Finder is writing as well as reading.
Turn it off for network volumes:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool TRUELog out and back in for it to take effect. Existing .DS_Store files are not
removed, so clear them separately if they are already there:
find /Volumes/YourVolume -name ".DS_Store" -deleteMake it reconnect at login
A mounted volume does not survive a restart on its own.
Open System Settings → General → Login Items, click +, and select the
mounted volume under /Volumes. It reconnects each time you log in.
If a Finder window opening on every login annoys you, an alternative is a small
launch agent running mount_webdav directly - but for most people the Login Items
entry is enough and needs no maintenance.
What to expect from performance
A mounted volume is not a local disk, and knowing exactly where it differs prevents a lot of frustration.
Listing large folders is slow. Every directory read is a network request. A folder with 10,000 files takes noticeably longer than one with 50.
Opening a large file reads it over the network first. A 2 GB video does not stream into your editor; it downloads. Plan for that.
Applications that write in many small increments feel worse. Some editors save continuously, and databases and version control tools write constantly. These are badly suited to network volumes generally, not just this one.
Spotlight does not index it by default, so system-wide search will not find its contents.
For documents, design files and media you open and save deliberately, it is
comfortable. For a working directory that a compiler, a database or git hammers,
use local storage and sync instead.
Turning off thumbnails for media folders
If a folder is full of large images or video, Finder generating previews means reading every file to make a thumbnail. That is a lot of downloading to look at a folder.
Open the folder, press ⌘J, untick Show icon preview, and switch to List view. Browsing becomes immediate.
Two things not to do with a mounted volume
Do not point Time Machine at it. Time Machine needs a filesystem that supports its snapshot and hard-link behaviour. A WebDAV volume does not, and the failures are slow and confusing rather than immediate - you discover them during a restore. For off-machine backup, use a tool designed for it, such as rclone on a schedule.
Do not put a git repository, a database or an Xcode project on it. These write constantly in small increments and expect local-disk latency and locking semantics. Working from a network volume produces corruption in the worst case and misery in the ordinary one. Keep the working copy local and sync the output.
The general rule: a mounted volume is excellent for files you open, change and save deliberately, and poor for files a program is holding open and writing to continuously.
When WebDAV is the wrong choice
WebDAV is the right protocol when a person is browsing files, precisely because macOS supports it natively and nobody needs to install anything.
It is a poor fit for scripted or high-volume work. Every operation is a separate HTTP request, so 20,000 small files means 20,000 round trips, and the per-operation overhead dominates. If a backup job, a build pipeline or a sync tool is the client rather than a human, the S3 API is the better protocol - our comparison covers where the line falls, and rclone is usually the tool.
For a Windows machine, the setup differs enough to need its own walkthrough - particularly the file size limit, which trips people up badly.
Troubleshooting
The volume will not mount. Check the URL scheme is https://. Check the
credential is an app password rather than your account password if two-factor
authentication is enabled.
It mounts then disconnects. macOS drops idle network volumes. Reconnecting via the Login Items entry is the practical fix; a keepalive that touches the volume periodically also works.
Files appear read-only. Usually a permissions issue on the credential rather than on the volume. Check what the app password is scoped to.
Frequently asked questions
How do I mount cloud storage as a drive on a Mac?
In Finder, choose Go then Connect to Server, enter your storage's WebDAV address starting with https, and sign in. The storage appears as a volume in the Finder sidebar, and you can save into it like any folder.
How do I make a WebDAV drive reconnect automatically on macOS?
Once it is mounted, open System Settings, General, Login Items, and add the mounted volume to the list that opens at login. Save the password in the Keychain when Finder asks, so the reconnect does not prompt every time.
Can I mount dosya.dev storage in Finder?
Yes. Connect to https://api.dosya.dev/webdav/mount/ followed by your workspace ID and name, using your account email as the username and an API key as the password. WebDAV is included on every plan, including Free.
