To turn off cloud saving in Illustrator, you need to adjust your file handling preferences within the application settings. The primary method involves changing the default save location from Adobe Creative Cloud to your local computer.
Step-by-Step Guide to Changing Illustrator's Save Preference
Based on the provided reference, the key action is to navigate to the preferences menu and modify the file handling settings. Here's a breakdown of the process:
- Open Illustrator: Launch Adobe Illustrator on your computer.
- Access Preferences:
- On Windows: Go to Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard.
- On macOS: Go to Illustrator > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard.
- Locate File Handling Settings: Within the Preferences window, find the "File Handling & Clipboard" section.
- Change Save Preference: Look for an option related to saving files or the default save location. According to the reference, you need to "change the save preference from cloud to your computer."
By selecting your computer as the preferred save location, Illustrator will default to saving files locally instead of directly to Adobe Creative Cloud.
Why Change Save Preferences?
While cloud saving offers convenience for syncing and backup, users might prefer local saving for several reasons:
- Offline Access: Ensures files are readily available even without an internet connection.
- Control: Provides direct control over file storage location and organization on your hard drive.
- Performance: Saving large files locally can sometimes be faster than uploading to the cloud, depending on internet speed.
- Storage Management: Allows for managing storage space directly on your computer or connected drives.
Considerations After Changing Preferences
- Manual Cloud Saving: Even with local saving as the default, you can typically still choose to save a file to the cloud manually via the "Save As" dialog if needed.
- Syncing: Disabling default cloud saving means your files won't automatically sync across devices via Creative Cloud. You'll need to manage backups and transfers yourself.
- Version Compatibility: Saving locally doesn't affect file format compatibility, but ensure you save in a format compatible with your Illustrator version (e.g., .ai, .eps, .pdf).
Changing this preference ensures that when you perform a standard save (Cmd+S or Ctrl+S), Illustrator will prompt you to save to a location on your computer by default, rather than Creative Cloud.
