Turn Off iCloud Drive on Mac Without Losing Files

Turning off iCloud Drive is safe — if you do it in the right order. The danger case is simple to state: files that were never downloaded to this Mac can't be kept by this Mac. Download first, toggle second, and you can leave iCloud Drive with every file intact.

Step 1: get every file onto the Mac

iCloud Drive evicts rarely used files to save disk space, leaving a cloud-icon stub in Finder. Before switching anything off, make everything local:

1. Open System Settings, click your name, then iCloud → iCloud Drive.
2. Turn off Optimize Mac Storage. This tells macOS to keep full copies of everything — and to start downloading anything currently online-only. You'll need enough free disk space for your whole iCloud Drive; check the size against your free space before proceeding.
3. Open iCloud Drive in Finder, select all (⌘A), right-click, and choose Download Now to hurry it along. Wait until no file shows a cloud icon.

If you use Desktop & Documents Folders sync, turn that toggle off first (same panel) and move those files back into your local Desktop and Documents — see the note below about them staying in iCloud Drive otherwise.

Step 2: flip the switch and keep a copy

1. In System Settings → your name → iCloud, click iCloud Drive and turn it off (on Sequoia the app list lives under Saved to iCloud → See All).
2. macOS asks whether to keep the files on this Mac. Choose Keep a Copy. (The other option, removing them from the Mac, leaves them only in the cloud.)
3. macOS gathers everything into a folder called iCloud Drive (Archive) in your home folder. Open it and spot-check: the structure mirrors your old iCloud Drive.

Move the archive's contents wherever you actually want them — Documents, an external drive, another cloud service — then delete the empty archive folder. To undo the whole decision, just turn iCloud Drive back on; it reconnects to the server copy, and you'd then reconcile it against your archive manually.

What stays in the cloud (and keeps using quota)

Turning off iCloud Drive on the Mac disconnects this Mac. It deletes nothing server-side: your files remain at iCloud.com and on any other devices still signed in, and they still count against your storage plan. If your goal is to stop paying for storage, log in to iCloud.com → Drive and delete what's there after confirming your local archive is complete — then downgrade the plan. Also note the app-data distinction: the iCloud Drive toggle governs files; apps like Notes, Photos, and Messages sync through their own switches in the same settings panel and are unaffected by this change.

Your other devices are equally unaffected: an iPhone or second Mac still signed in keeps its iCloud Drive exactly as it was. That cuts both ways — if the plan is to leave iCloud Drive everywhere, repeat the download-then-disable routine on each device, and only delete the server copies once every machine holds what it needs.

Half-measures worth considering first

If the complaint is disk space, evicting files (Remove Download on a right-click) solves it without leaving the service. If the complaint is one giant folder syncing forever, just move that folder out of iCloud Drive to a local path — iCloud only syncs what's inside its folder. Leaving entirely is the right call mainly when you've committed to another provider or want no cloud copies at all.