Where do documents go that I saved on my desktop?

Question

Level 1

129 points

Where do documents go that I saved on my desktop?

Tonight I converted text edit documents to pdf files and 'saved to desktop' They are not on the desktop. I did a search and it said they were all saved to the desktop, but they are not there. Where did they go? This is something I do frequently and have never had this happen before. I converted four different documents to PDF and the same thing happened to all of them. The search shows them saved to the desktop but they are not on the desk top. Can you help? Thanks.

Posted on Apr 10, 2015 10:56 PM

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Answer 1

Cunnla

Level 6

8,263 points

Apr 11, 2015 7:20 PM in response to Janice Fisher

Hi,

Are you searching using Finder or Spotlight? If you click or double click on the found file does it open? Also, if you open a finder window and choose Desktop in the sidebar, does the file show?

Try this. Control click on the desktop and in the menu that pops up choose Clean Up. You can also go to Show view options and toggle the grid size.

Try a reboot, and if nothing changes, reset the SMC.Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 4:53 PM in response to Cunnla

Thanks so much for getting back to me. When I search with spotlight, it does not show up. It shows up when searching with finder. It shows it on the desktop, but it is not there. I can open it, though, in finder. It is the strangest thing because I have done this same thing for years and never had a problem. I'm not sure if I've done it since I installed Yosemite, though.

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Answer 3

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 4:58 PM in response to Janice Fisher

This time when I search in Spotlight it did come up and I could open it.

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Answer 4

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Janice Fisher

I just discovered that Desktop is not in the sidebar. Would that make this happen? Where do I find it so I can put it back in?

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Answer 5

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 5:20 PM in response to Janice Fisher

This is what is happening now. There was no desktop file in the sidebar. There was one on the HD. In the HD desktop file was a bunch of stuff from a long time ago that I had deleted at the time from the desktop, but it did not delete from the HD desktop file. Also the PDF file from yesterday was there. I put the HD desktop file in the sidebar. When I did another pdf file and saved it to the desktop it goes to the desktop file in the sidebar but not to the actual desktop. I have no idea what is going on here.

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Answer 6

arthur

Level 5

5,254 points

Apr 11, 2015 7:20 PM in response to Janice Fisher

check out Finder → preferences → sidebar → show these items in the sidebar.

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Answer 7

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 5:27 PM in response to arthur

I did this Arthur. Desktop was not checked in the preferences so I checked it. I just tried to save another document to Desktop. It goes to the desktop file in the sidebar but not to the actual desktop. Shouldn't it be going to both places? And when I delete a file from the actual desktop, shouldn't it also delete from the sidebar file?

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Answer 8

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 5:43 PM in response to Janice Fisher

Now I have TWO Desktop Files in the sidebar. The second one just had a few of the last pdf files I was trying but none of the other stuff that is in the HD file or the sidebar file. I deleted the stuff but I can't delete the duplicate sidebar file because it says it is necessary to the OS, The other sidebar desktop says the same thing. I don't want two sidebar desktops!

What I need now is (1) how to get a document that I save to the desktop to go to the actual desktop as well as the sidebar and HD file. Now, it does not go to the actual desktop. (2) how do I delete the second Desktop file from the sidebar.

I know this is confusing....I'm totally lost myself but I really appreciate your help.

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Answer 9

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 5:53 PM in response to Janice Fisher

Also, there is a Desktop file in my home folder. An hour ago, it had the same contents as the HD and Sidebar files and if I filed a new document to the desktop it also went there. Now, that home file is totally empty.

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Answer 10

Janice Fisher Author

Level 1

129 points

Apr 11, 2015 7:23 PM in response to Janice Fisher

It is fixed. I have no idea what I did to fix it, but it is working. Anything I save to desktop goes to the actual desktop, to the desktop folder in the sidebar and to the one in my home folder. When i convert a document to pdf it now goes to all the right places. Thanks so much for your help....all the things you told me to check, I did, and several I made a change to.

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