Desktop and documents folder missing on MacBook Pro

Question

Level 1

4 points

Desktop and documents folder missing on MacBook Pro

I was looking through my finder to delete an old app, and I went to look in my desktop folder and it said could not be found, and I looked in my documents folder and it said the same thing, and I’m a little worried because I need this MacBook, it’s a MacBook Pro 13” if that helps. I can’t find the folders anywhere because when I restarted my MacBook they disappeared from the side bar, and I don’t know what to do please help

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Jun 19, 2025 9:45 PM

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

148,617 points

Jun 20, 2025 7:57 AM in response to layton244

the fundamental location of those folders is inside the Users folder with your ShortUserName:

/Users/YourShortUsername

Finder can open that folder for you with this shortcut:

Finder > Go > Home

inside you should see at least:

Desktop

Documents

Downloads

Movies

Music

Pictures

Public

if any of those are missing from the Finder sidebar, you can drag them in the order you want them to appear in the top section of the Finder Sidebar. (an Alias will be created, the originals will not be changed in any way)

You also have access to the system-wide folder:

/Applications

and inside it is the Utilities folder: /Applications/Utilities

as a developer-type, I keep both of those in my Finder sidebar as well

thesis can be manipulated by checkboxes in Finder > Settings > SideBar

Desktop and documents folder missing on MacBook Pro

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