iCloud Question

Yes. If you turn on iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents and don't turn on "Optimize Mac Storage" in Apple menu System Settings (or System Preferences), then there will always be a local copy of all your iCloud files.

You access the local copy the same way as the iCloud copy, via the iCloud section of the Finder sidebar or the Finder "Go" menu. To see the sync status of files, see instructions in the "View iCloud status" section of Get file, folder, and disk information on Mac - Apple Support

Turn on desktop and documents box Use iCloud Drive to store documents on your Mac and iOS devices - Apple Support the file will upload to iCloud Upload and download files from iCloud Drive on iCloud.com - Apple Support