Info-Mac

I'm trying to download a few hundred video files from my iCloud to my mac, but for each file downloaded, a new window pops up to preview each file individually. its very time consuming and is almost like spam on my screen, disallowing me to work quickly. is there a setting i can change to fix this problem and if so, please walk me though it? thanks in advance

Are you downloading from the iCloud website? If you're using Safari you might want to disable the "Open safe files after downloading" setting (see screenshot). It sounds like this might be what is causing each file to open?

Alternatively simply connect your Mac to your iCloud account in System Preferences so that you can access your files directly through the Finder and/or through the Photos app. This way you don't have to download anything through Safari or some other web browser.