How to enable transfer files from my iPad and Mac to iCloud

Thanks for the A2A.

First, make sure you are signed into the same Apple ID on both devices (assuming these are files you want to access from either device).

On your iPad…

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap your name at the top.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Scroll down and turn on iCloud Drive.

To copy files to your iCloud Drive on an iPad…

1. Find the Files app on your iPad and open it.
2. Tap Browse.
3. Tap iCloud Drive in Locations.
4. Tap on a folder to open it.
5. Tap Select in the top right of the screen.
6. Select the files you want to move.
7. Tap Launch the Files app
8. Tap Browse at the bottom of the screen.
9. Tap iCloud Drive in the Locations section.
10. Tap on a folder to open it.
11. Tap Select in the top right corner of the screen.
12. Tap on the files you want to move.
13. Tap Move at the bottom of the screen.
14. Tap a folder to choose a destination for the files.
15. Tap Move in the top right corner of the screen.

On a Mac, the best thing is to turn on iCloud Syncing and keep everything in your Documents folder. Apple has a great article on their support site that explains how to do that.[1]

Footnotes

[1] Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive