save iWork to iCloud & Computer possible?

If you save a file to iCloud it will show up under "All My Files" and whatever tags you've given it in Finder.

The file is available to use even when you are not connected to the internet.

If you store the file on the Desktop, it will not be in iCloud.

 

Yes, these documents count as part of your free 5GB of storage. On a Mac you can see your storage overview by going to System Preferences > iCloud and look for the "manage" button next to the usage graph at the bottom.

 

On both Mac and iOS, iCloud files are stored locally on the device as well as in the cloud - that's so you can still work when you're not connected to the web. The modified files will be re-synced to iCloud when you do have a web connection.

However, you won't find an iCloud folder doing a casual Finder search - consider it a non-managable cache, rather than something you can poke around in. At least for now, Apple wants the iWork apps to be the sole gateway to the files, to ensure that everything syncs correctly with the cloud.

The only way to "save" to the desktop as well as in iCloud is to Save a copy of the file from within the iWork programs. From that moment on, the saved version of the file is divorced from the cloud version. You can (and I have) made the mistake of editing the locally-saved version, rather than the iCloud version, negating the value of the cloud (but you can Move that local version back into the cloud with little difficulty).

Apple is opening things up a fair bit in Yosemite and iOS 8. For example, you will find iCloud in the Yosemite finder, similar to Dropbox (if you're familiar with that). At that point you ought to be able to put an alias for the document on the desktop.

If your intention in placing on the desktop is to make file access easier, then alias is the way to go - that ensures you'll always be working on the right version of the file.

If your intention in placing on the desktop is as a form of backup... It's probably going to be way more trouble than it's worth. In today's environment, documents (and the entire Mac desktop) are constantly being auto-saved/backed up to caches, even newly-created un-named documents.

You might want to Save to keep historical snapshots of the evolving document, or to clone the document to create a divergent version, but Saving as a necessary part of working with an electronic document is a near-extinct concept.