Finder Directory Changes / Local Documents and Desktop Folders No Longer In Side Panel

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Level 1

21 points

Finder Directory Changes / Local Documents and Desktop Folders No Longer In Side Panel

My local "Documents" and "Desktop" folders are no longer shown in the Finder side panel. I have a 2019 16" MacBook Pro recently upgraded to Big Sur. The directory changes occurred overnight with no activity on my part. The folders can be located in the iCloud directory, but I couldn't find the local folders and I want the local folders handy in the side panel when saving documents as they have always been before. I've looked through older posts and found some discussions of this problem, but not for Big Sur. The solutions discussed were three years old and references to directory folders did not foot with my directory so they were hard for me to follow.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 14, 2020 7:22 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Paul Conaway

Level 4

2,103 points

Dec 14, 2020 7:31 AM in response to richardchic

Richardchic, Do you have option set to put your Documents and Desktop folders in the cloud? (System Preferences/ Apple ID / iCloud Drive / options ) is this option checked? Also you can drag any folder from a finder window to the sidebar to add it to the sidebar. Also check your finder preferences to make sure that the favorites section still has checked for Documents and Desktop folders.

I hope this helps.

Paul

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Answer 2

richardchic Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 14, 2020 7:58 AM in response to Paul Conaway

Wow Paul, the Finder preferences worked. I've never even looked at those preferences before. Thanks very much for the quick reply.

Yes, I have the iCloud option checked for Documents and Desktop. Any concerns?

Do I understand that the Documents and Desktop folders are still on my local drive, or are they actually moved to iCloud?

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Answer 3

Dec 14, 2020 8:10 AM in response to richardchic

Richardchic, no concerns per say. I was just checking to see if they could be a cause. Glad the finder preferences worked. Sometimes upgrades accidentally switch some minor settings.

It is my understanding that yes the files are still on your local drive but MacOS might offload them to the cloud at anytime. I'm not sure what the determining factor is. Some of the podcasters that I listen to have mentioned that while they were editing the audio file for broadcast that suddenly the file was longer where the application thought it was. They determined that it was uploaded to icloud. This is the main reason why I don't have it turned on.

I hope this helps.

Paul

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Finder Directory Changes / Local Documents and Desktop Folders No Longer In Side Panel

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