add new folder not icloud

Only the Desktop, Documents and iCloud Drive folders are synced to iCloud (and only if you have that option turned on). You can add other folders to your Mac and they will not be synced to iCloud.

Go to Finder and do the following:

On the Finder Go menu, click Home.

On the Finder File menu, click New Folder.

Type a name in the new folder where it says "untitled folder."

Drag the new folder to the Finder sidebar in the Favorites section of the sidebar.

I stand by my original answer. If you create a new folder in your Home folder using the steps exactly as I suggested, that folder will be neither in your Desktop nor your Documents folder. You may also want to go to your Home folder and see what other folders are currently there. In most cases there are other folders there (e.g., Downloads, etc) -- they are not synced to iCloud.

If you want to make a suggestion to Apple that they offer the option about syncing Desktop or Documents, instead of both, you may want to do that via Feedback - iCloud - Apple

You'll have to add it to an external HDD/USB. If you add it to your desktop, it will get automatically uploaded to the Desktop & Documents folder which is one of the new features of Sierra. You can add it to your desktop but will have to turn off iCloud Drive, and I'm not sure if you might want to do that.

macOS Sierra: Store your desktop and documents in iCloud Drive

Note that the new folder does NOT need to be on an external USB drive.

The original question was how to create a folder that will not be affected by iCloud when it is turned on. I tried your solution to create a new folder, called it "Not iCloud," and then dragged it to the Finder's Sidebar. As I suspected the folder ends on the Desktop and guess where it will go when I turn on iCloud? I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to accomplish what babysilvertooth is wanting to do. *Where on my computer (not on an external hard drive) can I place such a folder?*

In that turning on iCloud moves everything in the Desktop and Documents folders to the cloud I have finally realized the main reason why computer is working so hard and so very slow. I have spent days trying to get my files back from iCloud to my computer. Some will not be moved simply by dragging and dropping because iCloud has them and tells me I have to download them. The transfer stops when it gets to one of these file (they have the the download cloud icon next to it), but I have to go into each folder to find those files that will not be dragged and dropped. This is about 414GB's worth of data (yes, I have some purging to do). No wonder I couldn't get anything done, CenturyLink recently downgraded internet speeds in our location to the lowest of low and trying to push, pull, upload, download, or whatever is taking, well, days, as I said.

Ironically, this all started because I had started a back up four days ago so that I could add more memory to my laptop.

I would like to use iCloud, but not for EVERY file on my computer.

iCloud would be more usable if Apple gave us choice of using the Desktop Folder OR Documents. For now it has to be turned off on my computer and if I really need something I will use the plethora of third-party apps that allow me to use my files without shutting down my internet life.

babysilvertooth's question was succinct; mine is a bit of a rant, but, perhaps we're coming from the same place.

Thank you.

Thank you for this. My mistake was that I was creating a folder on the Desktop and then dragging it to the sidebar as I had not seen your original post in context to the original question. I have posted this in another spot so that another user may get the same helpful info.