Desktop files disappeared

Question

Level 1

5 points

Desktop files disappeared

Hello, this morning coming back to work I've discovered that my desktop is empty. No more files.

I have tried to:

check trash: nothing
looking with Spotlight: nothing
check with iCloud: nothing - it is not possible to recover data
time machine: not available (that's my fault- never activated it :(
file recovery software: nothing found.

I am looking at the files created with MS Word and I can find only the recent files list on the Word app but unable to open it.

May you help me? I am losing days and days of work.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.2

Posted on Jan 8, 2024 6:45 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

76,462 points

Jan 8, 2024 8:07 AM in response to josiowolny

Two possible things to check:

1) Could the files be hidden? - press Command-Shift-D in the Finder to open a window with the contents of Desktop; press Command-Shift-period to make the Finder show hidden files. If they are hidden, they will appear in a grey color

2) Could you perhaps unwittingly have activated "Documents and Desktop in iCloud"? Apple makes this the default when connecting your account to iCloud, and many users just click through and don't realize it.

If that is the case, by clicking on iCloud Drive in a Finder window Sidebar, you should see folders named "Documents" and "Desktop" in there, and they should have your content.

Reply