It seems that all of my files are synched to the iCloud and have the little download cloud icon next to them. Accessing my files takes a ton of time and it's driving me crazy. How can I have my files stored locally and synched to the cloud and visa-versa?
Mac Studio, macOS 15.0
As muguy says, all your iCloud Drive files should be locally stored on your Mac internal drive. It's copies of these files that are made available at iCloud.com. If you've chosen to use "Optimize Storage," though, some files may be removed from the Mac if you're running out of space. How much storage space is available on your Mac? Apple recommends at least 10% or your storage remain free.
New in Sequoia is the option to insist that certain files never be removed from your local drive. Right clicking on a file in iCloud Drive brings a pop-up menu
that gives you the option to keep a file downloaded on your Mac, or to remove it until you need it. A new icon represents a file that's kept removed. Try using this option and see if it speeds things up.
As muguy says, all your iCloud Drive files should be locally stored on your Mac internal drive. It's copies of these files that are made available at iCloud.com. If you've chosen to use "Optimize Storage," though, some files may be removed from the Mac if you're running out of space. How much storage space is available on your Mac? Apple recommends at least 10% or your storage remain free.
New in Sequoia is the option to insist that certain files never be removed from your local drive. Right clicking on a file in iCloud Drive brings a pop-up menu
that gives you the option to keep a file downloaded on your Mac, or to remove it until you need it. A new icon represents a file that's kept removed. Try using this option and see if it speeds things up.
All files are on your Mac unless you elect to optimize storage. If you optimize some files may be offloaded to iCloud only status but only should space become needed on your Mac.
Force iCloud to store files locally on MacOS 15.0.1
