The Invisible Upload
During the initial setup of a new Mac, macOS heavily encourages users to enable iCloud Drive. One of the specific sub-features often activated by default is the automatic syncing of your “Desktop” and “Documents” folders. When this is active, every single file you save to your desktop or primary documents folder is instantly uploaded to Apple’s servers and pushed to your other devices. While convenient for small text files, this is a disaster if you are a video editor saving massive 50GB project files to your desktop; macOS will immediately attempt to upload these massive files, destroying your network bandwidth and rapidly filling up your paid iCloud storage tier.
Severing the Cloud Connection
To keep your large files strictly local and stop macOS from automatically uploading your Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud, you must disable this specific syncing feature within your Apple ID settings.
Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner and select System Settings. At the very top of the left-hand sidebar, click on your Apple ID name/profile picture. In the right-hand panel, click on iCloud. Under the “Apps Using iCloud” section, click on iCloud Drive. Look for the toggle switch labelled Desktop & Documents Folders. Click this toggle to turn it Off. A warning prompt will appear, informing you that the files will be removed from your local Mac and only kept in iCloud. Do not panic. Accept the prompt. Once disabled, a new, empty Desktop and Documents folder will be created locally. You must then open a Finder window, navigate to the “iCloud Drive” section in the sidebar, find the old “Desktop” folder, and drag your files manually back to your new, strictly local Desktop.