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Documents disappeared and are not accessible from iCloud on laptop...

My documents all disappeared on my MacBook Pro and they are not in iCloud from that computer; however, I looked on my iPad and I was able to access all of them on the cloud from that source. What the heck??? How do I get those docs back onto my laptop if they don't appear in the cloud from that laptop? This is just plain weird!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 21, 2020 5:40 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 21, 2020 10:21 PM

In the iPad the iCloud Drive is turned as on so they are accessed https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/set-up-icloud-drive-ipad847732d1/14.0/ipados/14.0

The Mac must be signed in with same Apple ID and password on the same network and iCloud drive , desktops and documents box must be turned as on so that they sync https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchle5a61431/10.14/mac/10.14

If you have unchecked the box of desktops and documents in Mac .


It will prompt the items from this desktop and the documents folder are available in iCloud Drive , to remove items from iCloud Drive , move them to your desktop and documents folder on this Mac , click on show in finder .


Again open system preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > the box of desktops and documents box is unchecked , tap with cursor over the box , a circle rotates setting up the box gets checked .


You will notice a folder is created literally on the desktop , tap it a pop up window appears the items on this desktop on this Mac have been moved into a new folder called “ Desktops - Apples Mac book …( the name of Mac will be written in the existing desktop folder in iCloud Drive , you can combine the contents of these folders any time , click on show in finder .


If you right click on the folder created on the Mac and move to trash , restart the Mac and empty the trash , but again the documents are placed in a right place in iCloud Drive as well in iCloud server .



5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 21, 2020 10:21 PM in response to jordis101

In the iPad the iCloud Drive is turned as on so they are accessed https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/set-up-icloud-drive-ipad847732d1/14.0/ipados/14.0

The Mac must be signed in with same Apple ID and password on the same network and iCloud drive , desktops and documents box must be turned as on so that they sync https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchle5a61431/10.14/mac/10.14

If you have unchecked the box of desktops and documents in Mac .


It will prompt the items from this desktop and the documents folder are available in iCloud Drive , to remove items from iCloud Drive , move them to your desktop and documents folder on this Mac , click on show in finder .


Again open system preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > the box of desktops and documents box is unchecked , tap with cursor over the box , a circle rotates setting up the box gets checked .


You will notice a folder is created literally on the desktop , tap it a pop up window appears the items on this desktop on this Mac have been moved into a new folder called “ Desktops - Apples Mac book …( the name of Mac will be written in the existing desktop folder in iCloud Drive , you can combine the contents of these folders any time , click on show in finder .


If you right click on the folder created on the Mac and move to trash , restart the Mac and empty the trash , but again the documents are placed in a right place in iCloud Drive as well in iCloud server .



Oct 22, 2020 4:54 AM in response to tygb

I had done all of this but to no avail. The iCloud Drive on this computer (although it's the same iCloud account as all my other devices) does not show the documents that I have on my iPad. Perhaps my best bet, ATM, is to transfer those files from my iPad to my computer and hope for the best? This is just plain weird. I only have one iCloud account! Thanks for your help, though. I will keep working on this till I am satisfied.

Documents disappeared and are not accessible from iCloud on laptop...

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