How do I change the default save location for new files in Pages back from iCloud to my Documents folder?

This annoyed me also, so did some digging. You can run this on the command line:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

You can leave iCloud's Data and Documents, and select iCloud from the dropdown if you need it.

<Edited by Host>

I don't see a way to change the default locations for saving or opening documents from the cloud to my Mac. For me, saving to a folder in my documents folder requires several steps, not just two. I suggest leaving feedback for the Pages team (via the link in the Pages menu).

System Preferences > iCloud > uncheck "Documents & Data"

Unfortunately this will not be helpful if you happen to use iCloud for Documents at times, but with the option unchecked Pages, Keynote, & Numbers remember the last folder saved to again.

Cheers.

I am running mountain Lion. I have hunted and hunted and I see no reference to icloud in the folder dropdown. Just my local files. And using data and documents is still turned on in the icloud preferences. Here is the initial screen I see when I go to save a new document.

Awesome....thanks Bernie! Although, I ended up having to run that command as sudo, which I don't think was mentioned on this thread, and I'm guessing some people wouldn't know to try.

Once I did this worked. It now defaults to the last known save location (perfect) AND I still had the option to save to iCloud.

I notice some other people are not seeing that the option to save to iCloud is still available.

Maybe they don't realize that when they're looking at the expanded finder view, they can click that little arrow toggle to the right of the "save as" filename field. The window should minimize, and they'll see a "Where" drop down menu. iCloud should be a choice here.

At least that's the way I found it! 🙂

This solution worked for me. First, you have to go into the Terminal.

Bernie_uk

Re: How do I change the default save location for new files in Pages back from iCloud to my Documents folder?

This annoyed me also, so did some digging. You can run this on the command line:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

You can leave iCloud's Data and Documents, and select iCloud from the dropdown if you need it.

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From Steadinan:

After you run this in Terminal, it will still try to save to iCloud one last time. Once you change it to a folder on your computer, it will remember that the next time.

If it still doesn't work, you might have to Relaunch the Finder (Click on the Apple and go to "Force Quit").

I really think that you, as the original poster of this question, should give Bernie_UK some credit and mark his answer as This solved my question. That would allow other people to find the answer quicker.

Just keep scrolling down. The headings are:

• Mac
• iPod and iPhone
• iPad and iOS
• OS X Apps

Under OS X Apps, Mac OS X is the fourth from the left on the top row. Click on that.

The best thing to do is to turn off documents and data in iCloud. It warns you darkly that it will delete the files on hour computer, but it means the copies stored in the Library forlder somewhere. The copies in the regular folders are unaffected. The Open and Save dialog boxes return to normal, except you see white rectangles instead of the icons (and have no choice about it, either)

Apple doesn't "get" the cloud yet. Eventually they will.

I'm having the same frustration with the Save dialog - I'd like to keep iCloud active for documents so I can use it if I (occassionally) want to, but I want to have the default be a local save. The iCloud default is doubly frustrating for me since I use the expanded save as dialog, which gets turned off when you go to iCloud. So I need to change from iCloud to my hard drive and click the expand button every time I save a new file in TextEdit, Pages, Keynote or Preview. Grrr...

Other than carping, I had two useful things to add. First, you can change the default in the Open dialog box - look for the two buttons at the upper left of the dialog. Click "On my Mac" instead of "iCloud" and future calls to Open should default to your local drive. (All the stranger then that there's no counterpart in the "Save As..." dialog.)

Second, I would leave feedback for the OSX team, not the Pages team. This is, I'm guessing, OS level funcionality that basically says "If this program supports iCloud, show this form of the dialog box". At the very least, it's an Apple/OSX-level rather than Pages-level decision about how these dialogs will work, since it's the same in all the programs I mentioned. Heck, start at the very top and email Tim Cook directly!

I think this will work for me. iCloud isn't a good place to save documents anyway, since I use SugarSync. If I save a document to a folder I'm syncing, it doesn't need an explicit save to the cloud to get there. iCloud is great for someone who just bought his first Mac yesterday, but I didn't.

I have 4,400 documents on my computer. What use is "All My Files"? Do they really expect me to drag and drop 4,400 icons to make pseudo folders only one level deep? Why are all my icons white rectangles in Open and Save dialog boxes? There are some things that even Apple doesn't get.

The best thing to do is to turn off documents and data in iCloud.

This is obviously the best solution if you have no need for iCloud's document support - but I do want to be able to use it occasionaly to facilitate the transfer of Keynote and Pages documents between my Mac and iPad.

I don't expect iCloud to ever be a full-fledged alternative to my local disc (I think I've got your file total beat by about an order of magnitude), but as an accessory system it seems like a fine idea. I just wish it didn't try so hard to make you use it all the time.

What I meant is turn off Documents and Data in iCloud in OS X. Keep it on on your iOS devices. iCloud will sync documents between the iOS devices and make them available on the iCloud web site, but it won't mess up iWorks' open and save dialog boxes. It also won't assume that you want all your documents in iCloud, which I think is undesirable anyway.

Keep iOS and OS X separate, and use the web site to move files between the two as necessary.

iOS iWork is different from OS X iWork. There are fewer fonts on an iOS device. iOS iWork programs have slightly different feature sets than OS X iWork programs, and the file formats are different. iCloud automatically converts the file format when necessary, but if you make a habit of saving things directly to iCloud, you are limited to the lowest common denominator between the two versions of iWorks. So why would anyone want iWork on the Mac to open and save documents on iCloud by default?

If you want to store files in the cloud and sync them on your Macs, SugarSync is a much better solution. It lets you choose your sync folders, it doesn't make you reorganize your files, it lets you sync all file types, it doesn't convert files to a different format and back, and it stores everything in the cloud, too. Just the simle act of saving a file backs it up and syncs it. I wouldn't live without it. iCloud is best with iTunes purchases and synchronizing Mac settings and iOS files; I woudln't live without it. The two make an unbeatable combination.

That's what the default should have been in the first place! Thanks!

Although if you turn off Documents and Data and move things in and out of the iCloud with the web site, you accomplish the same thing a different way.

Ken

I would probably use iCloud for a few files, so to have it auto sync in the background to ~/Library/Mobile Documents is a benefit I want to keep.

The idea of iCloud is it is a syncing service which keeps the latest copy of you docs on all devices - very handy.

Note that the Lion versioning is only local to the machine, and not pushed to the iCloud, so it won't be available on other devices / machines.

You can run this on the command line:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

Brilliant! That's what I've been hoping someone would be able to tell me. Thanks, Bernie.

I would agree that other services are more flexible, since there are several limitations with iCloud.

1) It's on a per App basis, not on a file / folder basis - terrible design decision in my view. If you want to jump to another app for a certain feature you'll need to duplicate the file.

2) It's a walled garden, only app sold via the AppStore can use iCloud.

3) The two points above make it an inflexible solution, especially for many of the non-appstore programs I've already bought and use.

That's why I use Dropbox instead of iCloud, but there is another Lion feature could cause problems - auto save in Lion compatible apps will cause unnecessary version of the file to be pushed to Dropbox.

I just intend to use iCloud for a few documents with iWorks, since it integrates well with Apples iOS apps (and I doubt Apple will provide direct integration for third part clouds in their apps). The forced default on the Save panel was certainly annoying, which was the original question of the thread.