Need help with icloud catalina

Hey folks,

I am on catalina latest beta. i need my docs and files stored on my laptop without them being synced to icloud. When I turn off "optimize storage on this device" under icloud settings, all my files disappear. I dont want icloud syncing this stuff but I need it to stay on my laptop. How do i do this?

system specs

Asus vivobook S405UA

Processor model

• Core ™ i3-6006U

Frequency

• 2 GHz

MEMORY AND STORAGE

Installed RAM (RAM)

• 4 GB

Type of RAM (RAM)

• DDR4

Number of hard drives

• 2 SSD

GRAPHIC PROCESSOR

GPU brand

• Intel

Graphics processor model

• HD Graphics 620