Can I change the iCloud Drive (Archive) file location?

It means exactly as it says. Your iCloud synced documents will be removed from the Mac to iCloud Drive only.

you cannot change the archive location but you can move the folder anywhere you would like.

norbertfo wrote: … When you choose "Keep a Copy" it creates an iCloud Drive (Archive) in your user directory. I do not see a way of changing this location, e.g. to an external drive.

You may be able to accomplish the same thing by creating a folder on your external drive called "iCloud Archive" and copying everything from iCloud to there. But you may have to copy a few folders at a time, if your internal drive is short of storage space.

I have some files in my iCloud Drive that I have designated "Remove Download"

so they are kept off my Mac's local iCloud Drive. If I copy those to a folder on an external drive, they are first copied to my local iCloud Drive, using my internal drive's storage for the copying.

So if I were short of space, I'd need to copy some to my archive, set "Remove Download" for those, and then continue with the rest, a few at a time as my internal storage space would allow.

Actually, iCloud might do all this for you. But I don't use "Optimize Storage," so I have plenty of space and can't test it.

If you try it, let us know…