Lost files after macOS Catalina upgrade

Were those files a d folders located on your Desktop?

Maybe you activated “Documents and Desktop in iCloud”.

Click iCloud Drive in a Finder window Sidebar and see if you find them there.

Try restarting in Safe Mode. Can you open the documents in Safe Mode?

If you can open in Safe Mode,

Restart normally again. See if it got fixed. If not, please run the diagnostic tool Etrecheck and post its full report here.

If you can't open the documents even in Safe Mode, there is either a problem with the drive or with permissions.

Select the Documents folder, press Command-I and post a screenshot of the permissions part at the bottom of the window.

I also lost my documents with the "Upgrade" (very poor name for it), and not only can I not open my documents (which I can see), but I can't save any new documents. Since no instructions were offered with the "Upgrade" about such issues it makes me think something has gone wrong. Why would Apple choose to make it impossible to find or create any documents ? Is there a repair that can be done or a way to go back to the previous OS?

No, you can't.

In Catalina, the system is a separate, read-only volume. You can't create folders on the top level of the drive.

Yes, you can move them and place them in any convenient place.

I was told to upgrade my MacBook pro to OS Catalina due to a problem I had restoring from iCloud on my new phone. Now I cannot see my files on my hargrove.

The documents are Word and Excel files. The documents are on my iCloud storage, in my Documents folder, my Downloads folder and they all fail to open. The files are visible, but when I try to open them nothing happens. No error message, just a little flicker of the file name. I then created a new Word file and tried to save it, but it failed to save to any of the locations. I was able to "Rename file", but when it fails to save it reverts back to the default name of the first line of the document.

There is also a file icon on my desktop that is labeled "Relocated files" that when I click on it I get a message that it could not be opened. After a few dozen tries with clicking, double clicking and right clicking and selecting "Open" all resulting in the same thing, I tried the option to "Move to trash" and nothing happens. The icon doesn't change and nothing shows in the trash.

Safe Mode worked and after the regular Restart it seems to be fine. There was a power failure at our house during our 11 day absence and my iMac was completely off when we got home. Perhaps somehow that led to the problem?

Thanks for the help.

I have the same problem. When I upgraded my laptop a few weeks ago, I've been noticing that I'm missing documents in iCloud. Everything I save is saved on the cloud, thinking that it's being backed up, but can't find a trace of it. Has anyone else had this experience?

There was a relocated folder on my three Macs for awhile. Not there now. Maybe I deleted them. Don't know. But I know I lost data. Time Machine always has been unreliable and unusable, so I haven't used it for more than a year. It won't help me.

Catalina has been more trouble than it's worth for those of us who don't use any of its new features. I update routinely when new updates are announced because I want any security updates.

I can't save files in Text anymore because I don't have permission. The alert never says how to fix this. I've tried every trick suggested in the help service. None work, and I own and administer our Mac as I have for more than 30 years.

There are major problems at Apple, which is looking more like Microsoft every day.

I can't find files after Catalina upgrade. The folder marked "Relocated items" on my desktop only has 1 exe file in it. There are many missing files and folders. Can I use TimeMachine to try to recover these? These files were in the HD and I can't find them anymore!

I realize this isn't your fault - but this is the worst and absolutely idiotic feature. Whomever thought of NOT allowing users to keep/create folders on their own hard drives should be whacked over the head with a rolled-up newspaper.

I work with gigantic files and this has broken EVERY link, it will take hours to re-point all programs to the files in their new locations.