Keep new documents off iCloud on Mac

If you'd rather your documents stay on the machine you're sitting at — not replicated to Apple's servers the moment you save — macOS is working against you by default. New documents are steered toward iCloud Drive automatically. There's one preference that changes the default to local, so a file only leaves your Mac when you deliberately put it in iCloud.

Make local the default, cloud the exception

The behavior lives in a single global preference. In Terminal (Applications → Utilities), run:

# New documents default to your Mac, not iCloud
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

# Undo — return to the iCloud-by-default behavior
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool true

From here on, a new document's Save sheet opens on a folder on your Mac. iCloud is still available in the location dropdown for anything you consciously want synced — it's just no longer the path of least resistance. Quit and reopen apps so they pick up the change; the preference behaves the same across macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

What this does and doesn't cover

Being precise matters here, because "off iCloud" can mean several different things:

• This setting changes where new documents from apps like TextEdit, Preview, Pages, and Numbers are proposed to save. It's about the default, not a lockdown.
• It does not retroactively pull existing files out of iCloud Drive — those stay where they are until you move them.
• It does not stop Desktop & Documents folder syncing. If those two folders sync to iCloud, files you save into them still upload. That's a separate switch under System Settings → [your name] → iCloud → iCloud Drive → Desktop & Documents Folders.
• It does not touch Photos, Messages, or other iCloud services.

For a genuinely local-only setup, combine this default with turning off Desktop & Documents sync so the folders you save into aren't themselves cloud-backed.

A predictable place for private files

Once local is the default, keep sensitive work somewhere that never syncs. A folder in your home directory outside Desktop and Documents — say ~/Private — stays entirely on-device. If you want a stronger boundary than a folder, macOS can create an encrypted disk image in Disk Utility that asks for a password before it opens, so even someone with access to the Mac can't read the contents. Save into the mounted image and the files exist only there, never in iCloud.

Take the folders off iCloud too

To close the last gap, stop your Desktop and Documents from syncing. See how Desktop & Documents iCloud sync works and how to turn it off without losing files.