Documents and Desktop folders in iCloud

All the files would have still remained on your mac they would have just been moved to another folder in your Library folder in order to sync to the iCloud – read my other posts on this thread to get a better understanding.

That folder works in the same way as the DropBox, Box, OneDrive, etc. They are all located on your computer and then synced to their respect clouds.

This is where you will find that folder on your computer:

Your HD > Users > [your name] > Library > Mobile Documents > iCloud Drive

so Apple moves the documents folder from:

Your HD > Users > [your name] > Documents

and puts it into the iCloud Drive folder.

The only time when the only copy is in the cloud is if you also select "Optimize Mac Storage". Then when the mac is running low of local space it move unused content to only be in the cloud.

I just experienced this same situation today. I am new to Macbook and didn't realize that by checking the "Desktop and Documents" box in "Options" of iCloud preferences that my whole Desktop and Documents folder contents would move to iCloud with no copy left on my Macbook. I thought I was selecting it to allow me to choose folders or files from these locations to put in iCloud. All of a sudden nothing was on my Desktop and nothing was in my Documents folder. An Applecare tech person spent over an hour with me helping me put everything back. This was very cumbersome! The system would not let me download a whole folder with its contents intact. I had to recreate that folder in my Documents folder on my Mac, then download each individual file it contained to downloads, then move those files into each appropriate folder in Documents. The Applecare tech didn't know of any other way to do it either. Thank God I did not have that much stored in my Documents. I had to do the same thing with my Desktop. I then deleted all of those files from iCloud.

So now in iCloud Preferences, I have a check mark in iCloud box but in the Options... I do not check Desktop and Documents folders. So I can just put the files and folder and files I want in iCloud. I can imagine the nightmare if you had many folders, subfolders and files. There needs to be a clear and easy way to reverse this process. I thought Apple was suppose to be so user friendly. Not in this situation!

Gentlemen, today ALL MY FILES ARE GONE from documents and icloud folder.

They are missing from all my devices as well.

I am able to restore from time machine from Thursday but everything I did at work yesterday is gone.

I cannot even start to express how annoyed I am.

Before you start pointing at me, I did not touch any settings and I obviously didn't delete everything and empty trashcan.

I have a lot of hidden folders there but no "Icloud Drive".

It simply wiped everything around 14.00 (the files were actually visible in Icloud trashcan).

This is obviously not a secure mature solution so I have now turned off the sync completely and rely on time machine instead.

Thanks. I did not realize that and the "optimize" box in iCloud preferences was checked by default.The Applecare tech person didn't mention that either. So after I inadvertently moved all my documents and desktop folders & files to iCloud, if I would have taken that check mark out, would they have come back to their original places on my Mac or do you have to take that check mark out first?

Anyway, I did not want all those files/folders moved in the first place. I only want what I choose to put there. I didn't really understand that option.

so Apple moves the documents folder from:

Your HD > Users > [your name] > Documents

and puts it into the iCloud Drive folder.

No, it doesn't. They are still in your /Users/username/Documents and Desktop. Those folders are tagged with metadata (com.apple.icloud.desktop) that tells Finder not to show them in your Home, but in the iCloud Drive.

Other documents you drag into the iCloud Drive are stored in the Mobile Documents folder, but not the Desktop and Documents folders.

If you don't believe me, just look in the Terminal.

Here you see that the Documents folder in the Mobile Documents folder is a symbolic link to the home folder Documents:

Barneys-MBP:~ barney$ ls -l Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

total 8

lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 barney staff 23 Jan 14 18:35 Documents -> /Users/barney/Documents

Yes, Apple hasn't done a great job of really explaining it all. They do seem to dumb-down their explanations. For someone like my parents, they don't care where the files are, they just happy that they can now access an all devices.

From what I've read, if you uncheck the options it will go back to it's original state/locations.

Today documents folder is completely wiped again without explanation.

Icloud sync is turned off so that is unlikely to be root cause.

God knows what is going on here but it is unlikely to be related to topic above.

Found root cause to my problem above, Parallels integrating to boot camp and a automatic redirection of documents folder in Windows to a file share is not a good idea (its running by default pushed by a GPO from domain).

Basically it automatically wipes the whole lot down to a folder that was only visible from Windows when the folder is mapped so.

Turned off automatic folder sharing between the two operating systems and now it should be ok.

Dirtylobster wrote:

Today documents folder is completely wiped again without explanation.

Icloud sync is turned off so that is unlikely to be root cause.

God knows what is going on here but it is unlikely to be related to topic above.

Then start your own thread and provide all the details.

think.different wrote:

From what I've read, if you uncheck the options it will go back to it's original state/locations.

I have been trying to find out if this is indeed what will happen. Does anyone know?

If aliases for the Desktop and Documents folders were left in their respective original locations, I for one would have felt less panic than having them vanish from view. I guess upgrading is not supposed to be painless.

peakachu wrote:

think.different wrote:

From what I've read, if you uncheck the options it will go back to it's original state/locations.

I have been trying to find out if this is indeed what will happen. Does anyone know?

If aliases for the Desktop and Documents folders were left in their respective original locations, I for one would have felt less panic than having them vanish from view. I guess upgrading is not supposed to be painless.

It was not aliases left in their original locations. The actual folders were left in their original locations. The Finder just shows them in iCloud Drive. They are essentially hidden in your home.

When you disable the feature, Empty Desktop and Documents folders will be revealed in your home folder.

You will then have to move the items from the iCloud Drive folder back to your Desktop and Documents folders.

Nothing is actually moved, though. Hard Links to the files are created in the "iCloud Drive" folder. When you move them from iCloud Drive into your home folders, hard links are again made in your Desktop and Documents folders.

So, it appears everything happens almost instantaneously (because it does). The actual files have never been moved from their original storage locations on the hard drive. Finder just plays tricks to make them appear to have moved.

the end of this support article may help: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

They are mirrored, Sierra has just move them locally to the iCloud folder but they are still all locally on your mac and not only in the cloud.

You're not the first to get worried about this.

Everything in the iCloud folder is one your mac just like everything in the DropBox folder is on your mac – in both instances they are also mirrored in the cloud too.

You can double check this by turning of wifi and you will see the files still there. Also if you open you TM backup and navigate to the icloud drive folder (user folder/library/mobile documents/icloud drive) everything should be there. The icloud drive folder in TM will show you everything in icloud and not just what you see in the finder, ie there will be a folder for each application that stores in the cloud.