iCloud Drive has no exclude list. It syncs everything in iCloud Drive, plus your Desktop and Documents if “Desktop & Documents Folders” is on. To keep one folder local, move it somewhere else — your home folder is ideal. Renaming it to end in .nosync also stops it syncing, but it's less dependable.
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Is your folder syncing? How to tell
On a Mac, iCloud Drive syncs two places: the iCloud Drive folder itself, and your Desktop and Documents folders if Desktop & Documents Folders is on. Nothing else in your home folder goes up — but Desktop and Documents are where most people keep everything.
Check the setting
Open (called iCloud Drive on some versions). If Desktop & Documents Folders is on, both folders sync, subfolders and all.
Check the Finder sidebar
Click iCloud Drive in the Finder sidebar. If you see Desktop and Documents folders inside it, they're syncing. On macOS Tahoe 26, Apple says the synced folders appear under Favorites in the sidebar. On earlier versions they move to the iCloud section instead.
Turn on the status column
Finder can show each item's sync state. Open iCloud Drive, choose , then and select iCloud Status. Apple's statuses mean:
- In iCloud — only in iCloud. It downloads when you open it.
- Downloaded — on your Mac and in iCloud.
- Keep Downloaded — always kept on your Mac, and still synced.
- Waiting to Upload — not in iCloud yet, but it will be.
- Out of Space or Ineligible — couldn't be stored: iCloud is full, or the item is over 50 GB.
“Out of Space” isn't the same as excluded. The item uploads as soon as there's room, for example after you upgrade your iCloud plan.
Every way to keep a folder local, compared
There's no “don't sync this folder” button, so every method works by changing where the folder lives or what it's called.
| Method | Keeps it off iCloud | Rest of Desktop & Documents still syncs | Effort | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move it to your home folderFinder, built in | Yes | Yes | One move | It's no longer in Documents, so pin it to the sidebar. |
| Turn off Desktop & DocumentsSystem Settings | New files only | No, all or nothing | Move files back by hand | Existing files stay in iCloud Drive until you move them. |
| Rename it to end in .nosyncFinder or Terminal | Yes, usually | Yes | Rename once | Not an Apple setting. Reports of lost folders. |
| Move it to an external driveAny drive | Yes | Yes | One move | Only there when the drive is plugged in. Back it up. |
| Keep DownloadedFinder shortcut menu | No, still syncs | Yes | One click | Only stops the Mac removing local copies. |
| Doghouse vaultOur app · encrypted disk image | Yes, by default | Yes | Set when you create it | Encrypted too, so keep the password safe. |
Scroll sideways on small screens. “Keeps it off iCloud” means the folder's contents aren't uploaded to iCloud Drive.
Move the folder out of Desktop and Documents
- Works on Every version of macOS
- Cost Free, built in
- Best for One or a few folders that shouldn't sync
This is the dependable answer, and the one How-To Geek recommends: iCloud only syncs certain places, so put the folder somewhere else. Your home folder is ideal. iCloud Drive syncs the Desktop and Documents folders inside it, but not the home folder itself.
- Make sure it's downloaded. In Finder, Control-click the folder and choose Download Now if that option appears. Wait until nothing inside shows the In iCloud status.
- Open your home folder. In Finder, choose , or press ⇧ ⌘ H. This is the folder with a house icon and your user name. iCloud Drive doesn't sync it.
- Move the folder. Select the folder in Documents or on the Desktop and press ⌘ C. Click in the home folder window and press ⌥ ⌘ V to move it rather than copy it.
- Check it arrived. Open a few files to check they work. The folder is no longer in iCloud Drive, on this Mac or on your other devices.
- Pin it to the sidebar. Drag the folder into Favorites in the Finder sidebar so it's as easy to reach as before.
Moving it out removes it from your other devices.
Apple's documentation for working with iCloud Drive is clear: items you drag out are copied to your Mac and removed from iCloud Drive on all your devices. If another Mac or your iPad needs the folder, copy it to that device's own storage first.
An external drive works too, for folders too big for your Mac — just make sure a backup covers it. Avoid other sync services' folders, such as Dropbox or OneDrive, unless you want it synced there instead.
Turn off Desktop & Documents Folders
- Works on Every version with the setting
- Cost Free, built in
- Best for People who never wanted Desktop and Documents in iCloud
If you'd rather nothing on your Desktop or in Documents synced, turn the whole feature off. These are Apple's steps for macOS Tahoe 26:
- Choose .
- Click your name at the top of the sidebar, then click iCloud.
- Click Drive (called iCloud Drive on some versions).
- Turn off Desktop & Documents Folders, then click Done.
iCloud Drive
What happens to your files
According to Apple, when you turn it off:
- Your existing files stay in iCloud Drive. They aren't deleted, and they aren't copied back to your Mac.
- macOS creates new, empty Desktop and Documents folders in your home folder, and new files save there.
So your Desktop looks bare, but nothing is lost. To bring files back, open the Desktop or Documents folder inside iCloud Drive and drag what you want into the new local folders. They're then removed from iCloud Drive, which is the point.
The “keep a copy” option and iCloud Drive (Archive) folder you may have read about apply to turning off iCloud Drive altogether, or signing out of iCloud, not to this setting.
You can't exclude just one folder
The setting is all or nothing. As The Eclectic Light Company notes, System Settings has no exclusion list. To keep most of Documents syncing but not one folder, use method 1.
The .nosync trick: it works, with caveats
- Works on Current macOS, per independent guides
- Cost Free
- Best for Bulky, replaceable files inside Documents
iCloud Drive skips items whose names end in .nosync or .tmp. Rename “Scratch” in Documents to “Scratch.nosync” and it stays on your Mac while everything around it syncs. The Eclectic Light Company describes this in its 2019 guide to Desktop & Documents and its 2026 notes on exclusions. In Finder, such folders show a crossed-out cloud.
- Select the folder and press Return to rename it.
- Add
.nosyncto the end of the name and press Return. If Finder asks whether you want to add the extension, confirm it. Then check the iCloud Status column.
Or in Terminal:
# Rename a folder in Documents so iCloud Drive skips it
mv ~/Documents/Scratch ~/Documents/Scratch.nosync
Why we'd use it carefully
-
It isn't a setting Apple offers. It's a naming rule, not an option in System Settings, so it could change without notice. Recheck the status column after major macOS updates.
-
It lives inside a synced folder. The .nosync folder exists only on this Mac. In an Apple Community thread, users reported .nosync folders in Documents vanishing after switching iCloud Drive off and on. Replies quote Apple's documentation: if the parent folder is deleted in iCloud or evicted from your Mac, the .nosync items go with it.
-
Rename folders, not files. Adding .nosync to a file changes its extension, and apps stop recognising it.
Our view: it's handy for build folders, caches and other things you could recreate. For private or irreplaceable files, move the folder out instead.
Why files vanish from your Mac: Optimize Mac Storage
A related complaint: files still listed in Finder that won't open offline, or cloud icons everywhere. That's Optimize Mac Storage (“Optimise” in British English settings). The Mac User Guide explains that your Mac stores documents only in iCloud when it needs space. Otherwise, the full contents of iCloud Drive stay on your Mac.
The files aren't gone. They show the In iCloud status and download when you open them, if you're online. Three controls:
- Turn it off in . Your Mac then keeps everything, which needs the disk space.
- Keep Downloaded: Control-click an item in iCloud Drive and choose Keep Downloaded. It stays on your Mac, but still syncs.
- Remove Download: the opposite, for things you're happy to leave in iCloud.
The Store in iCloud recommendation in works the same way. None of these keep a folder out of iCloud; they only decide whether a copy stays on your Mac too.
Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive
The same rule applies to every sync service: a folder stays off it if it lives outside that service's folder. Their “choose folders” settings work the other way round. They decide which cloud folders download to this Mac, not which Mac folders go up.
- Dropbox calls it selective sync: click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar, then your avatar, Preferences, the Sync tab, and Modify under “Select folders to sync to this Mac”. Unticking a folder removes it from your Mac. It stays on dropbox.com.
- OneDrive has Choose Folders: click the OneDrive icon in the menu bar, open its settings menu, choose Preferences, then the Account tab. Unticked folders leave your computer but stay online.
- Google Drive for desktop offers Stream files or Mirror files for My Drive, under . Streaming keeps files mostly in the cloud; mirroring keeps full copies on your Mac. Other Mac folders only upload if you add them.
Menu names in these apps change often, so if yours differ, search the app's help for “choose folders”. And check none of them is set to back up your Desktop or Documents.
Keeping it local isn't the same as keeping it private
Getting a folder out of iCloud stops it being uploaded. It doesn't stop anyone at your logged-in Mac, or any app you run, from opening it. If it's private, you probably want it locked too: see every way to password-protect a folder on Mac, or our guide to keeping files private on a shared Mac.
The reverse also holds: encryption doesn't depend on location. An encrypted disk image stays unreadable without its password on your Mac, a USB stick or in iCloud Drive, because syncing only copies the scrambled file. The catch: a sparse bundle is hundreds of small band files that change while it's open, and sync services can copy them mid-change. Our disk image guide covers backups and iCloud.
Doghouse vaults are standard Apple AES-256 encrypted disk images, and “Keep out of iCloud” is on by default when you create one. Doghouse uses both exclusions at once: the vault file gets a .nosync name (Family.nosync) plus Apple's file-provider “ignore” marker, which iCloud Drive's sync engine also checks. That's how a vault can sit in Documents without being uploaded. Because they're normal disk images, you can also open a vault without Doghouse.
Which method should you use?
One folder in Documents shouldn't sync, but everything else should
Move it to your home folder
You never wanted Desktop and Documents in iCloud
Turn off Desktop & Documents, then drag files back
Big, replaceable files that have to live inside Documents
A .nosync folder, used with care
Files keep disappearing from your Mac
Turn off Optimize Mac Storage, or Keep Downloaded
A folder too big for your Mac's drive
An external drive, with a backup
Private files that should stay on this Mac and need a password
A Doghouse vault, or an encrypted disk image saved outside synced folders
Frequently asked questions
Can I exclude one folder from iCloud Drive on Mac?
Not with a setting. System Settings only turns Desktop & Documents syncing on or off as a whole, and there's no exclude list. To keep one folder local, move it outside Desktop, Documents and iCloud Drive, for example into your home folder. Renaming it to end in .nosync also works, but it's less dependable.
What happens to my files if I turn off Desktop & Documents Folders?
They stay in iCloud Drive. macOS creates new, empty Desktop and Documents folders in your home folder, and new files save there. To bring older files back, open iCloud Drive in Finder and drag them into the new local folders.
Does the .nosync trick still work?
Current guides say it does: iCloud Drive doesn't sync items whose names end in .nosync or .tmp. It isn't a setting Apple offers, though, and people have reported .nosync folders being deleted after switching iCloud Drive off and on. Use it for files you could replace, not the only copy of anything important.
Why did files disappear from my Mac after I turned on iCloud Drive?
Most likely Optimize Mac Storage. When your Mac needs space, it keeps older files only in iCloud, and Finder shows them with the In iCloud status. Open a file to download it again, or Control-click a folder and choose Keep Downloaded so it always stays on your Mac.
Does moving a folder out of iCloud Drive delete it from my other devices?
Yes. Apple says items you drag out of iCloud Drive are copied to your Mac and removed from iCloud Drive on all your devices. If you need the folder on another Mac too, copy it to that Mac's own storage first.
Is a folder private if it isn't in iCloud?
No. Keeping a folder local only stops it syncing. Anyone using your logged-in Mac can still open it. To lock it, put it in an encrypted disk image, or a Doghouse vault, which is also kept out of iCloud by default.
About this guide
Written by the Doghouse team at Sprout Media in Dublin. Doghouse makes encrypted folders for Mac and keeps them out of iCloud Drive by default. Steps are checked against Apple's documentation for macOS Tahoe 26, and older names are noted where they differ. Third-party menu names are taken from each company's help centre.
Published · Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Sources
- Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive — Apple Support
- Turn off Desktop & Documents Folders on your Mac — Apple Support
- Check your iCloud Drive file and folder status on Mac — Apple Support
- Work with folders and files in iCloud Drive — Apple Support
- Store files in iCloud Drive on Mac — Apple Support
- Optimise storage space on your Mac — Apple Support
- Exclude or include items in backup, search, iCloud Drive and QuickLook preview — The Eclectic Light Company
- Living with Desktop & Documents in iCloud — The Eclectic Light Company
- .nosync folder deleted by iCloud — Apple Community
- Can you exclude folders from iCloud sync on Mac? — How-To Geek
- Selective sync overview — Dropbox Help
- Choose which OneDrive folders you want to sync — Microsoft Support
- Stream and mirror files with Drive for desktop — Google Drive Help