I gave this thread a bit of a generic title so it can be used for any issues with Pages using Mountain Lion.

When using Pages under every OS up to and including Lion, I always had it set to save new documents to the desktop. Documents are short lived on my MBP as I create them, save to the desktop, copy and paste them into my website and send them to the trash. I also store some in future use files and place them in the appropriate date folder from the desktop.

Now using Mountain Lion, it automatically saves the new document to the Cloud. Grrrr. The only way I can now get the document to the desktop is to use the 'Move to' command under the File menu, deselect the Cloud, select the Mac HD, then select the Desktop, an extra few steps ML forces me to make.

Is there any way to set Pages in Mountain Lion to save any new document to the desktop so my work pattern reverts to normal? I can't seem to find an option to allow me to do that.

I do believe that you still have the option of where the document is saved when you click save... then instead of the cloud, select the desktop location.. I never tried it, but looking at it suggest this should work!

Well, that is a two step process which is an improvement, thanks, BUT you still cannot set it to automatically save Pages documents to the desktop like before.

@ Sinc

I read an article on Ars Technica which mentioned a method to save files using "Save As". - I haven't test it - I don't have Mountain Lion.

"... is also available, however, in two different ways. One way
is to trigger the "Duplicate…" command immediately followed by the
"Save…" command. A traditional Save dialog box will appear, allowing
the new document to be saved anywhere. If that's still too cumbersome,
just typing command-shift-option-S (⌥⇧⌘S) will trigger a traditional
"Save As…" dialog box. (Holding down the option key while looking in
the "File" menu will also change the "Duplicate…" command to "Save
As…")

I hope this works, could make 10.8 almost acceptable

Now using Mountain Lion, it automatically saves the new document to the Cloud.

There has to be some way to turn that off.

Saving any file to a "cloud server" is inherently insecure.

@ Sinc

I read an article on Ars Technica which mentioned a method to save files using "Save As". - I haven't test it - I don't have Mountain Lion.

"... is also available, however, in two different ways. One way
is to trigger the "Duplicate…" command immediately followed by the
"Save…" command. A traditional Save dialog box will appear, allowing
the new document to be saved anywhere. If that's still too cumbersome,
just typing command-shift-option-S (⌥⇧⌘S) will trigger a traditional
"Save As…" dialog box. (Holding down the option key while looking in
the "File" menu will also change the "Duplicate…" command to "Save
As…")

I hope this works, could make 10.8 almost acceptable

That too works fine, but is again two extra steps. Still no way to make it do so every time like it used to do.

There has to be some way to turn that off.

Saving any file to a "cloud server" is inherently insecure.

Agreed. I am however closer to a solution. Here is what the window looks like when you try to save the document, followed by a new window when click "On my Mac" below to try to save it to the desktop, but, still can't figure a way to make this happen each time as there is no 'save' option, just 'open'.

This is concerning to me. I use Pages extensively, and I save most documents to a password secured USB drive. There's no way I'm going to send files to the cloud!

I haven't migrated, but I plan to once .1 or .2 comes out. Hope this issue is settled by then.

I wonder if there is a way to reconfigure a function key to do a Save As, or is it possible to use Automator or Applescript

I am repeating this post from another thread to clear up a misunderstanding:

But just looking back to the Pages thread now, I don't see any post there that you (or anyone else) found a "default" setting that would save the Pages document to a folder on the Mac each and every time (rather than iCloud) automatically without any further intervention by the user.
If you need to choose each time, it's not a "default" setting in my books, you also run the risk of forgetting to make the change once and boom, you sensitive file is in the cloud.

What about other files, I would imagine if this happens with a Pages document it will happen with all other files as well.
Maybe there is a general setting to turn synching via iCloud off completely.

Perhaps I did not explain it well enough in that other Pages thread.

I repeat: If you select the 'On My Mac' option JUST ONCE you permanently remove the default iCloud option, (unless you reselect it at a later date.) When you do, the 'On My Mac' window becomes the default window.

That noted, you then do have to then choose where you want the document to be stored EVERY time.

I hope that clears it up for you that you CAN stop the default use of the iCloud window.

I also removed documents and data from my iCloud prefs to prevent accidental use.

I have been working with Pages and ML for a couple of weeks. I had delayed downloading ML until I had finished a project, but now that it's installed, I have no problems using templates (and older files as templates) with the Duplicate and Save (with a different file name) routine.

I do not use iCloud - never set it up - so I have not needed to work around it.