Documents and Desktop folders not appearing on my Mac

System Preferences --> iCloud --> Make sure iCloud Drive is checked and click Options... --> Desktop & Documents Folders should be unchecked. Check it. Wait about a minute. Uncheck it again. As soon as you do that, your iCloud drive folder on your Mac should begin to populate with all of your folders. Bear in mind that unless you've checked Optimize Mac Storage in the Options window, the entire contents of whatever you have in the iCloud will be copied to your Mac's HD.

I also had the same issue.

Updated OS to High Sierra via clean install. On boot iCloud.com still showed my old Desktop and Documents but the new install had empty Desktop and Documents folders.

Its been a couple days, and I didn't solve it until finding this thread and messing around just now..

I went to "System Information" via right-click on HD > "Manage Storage..."

Then went down the Recommendations list: Store in iCloud, Optimize .. etc.. and activated / turned them all on.

Within a few moments all of my files started downloading back to my desktop and 'local' documents folder.

Hope that helps you or anyone else with the same issue. iCloud was already properly set up to sync but it seems like the system sync just needed a little boost to get it going again.

As per this article macOS Sierra: Store your desktop and documents in iCloud Drive

Move items to your Mac and remove them from iCloud Drive: Drag files and folders from iCloud Drive to a folder not inside iCloud Drive, such as Downloads, Movies, Music, and Pictures. The items are copied to your Mac and removed from iCloud Drive on all your devices set up for iCloud. If you change your mind, you can drag items back to iCloud Drive.Items you put in your Documents folder or on your desktop are stored in iCloud Drive, if you selected Desktop & Documents Folders in iCloud preferences.

You can also use iCloud Drive when you save a new document or open a document in an app. Just click iCloud Drive in the sidebar of the Save dialog or Open dialog that appears after you choose File > Save or File > Open.

When you disable Desktop & Documents, you home folder Desktop and Documents folders will reappear, but they will be empty. You have to move the files from iCloud Drive back into those folders.

Nothing is actually moved or copied, just hard links to the files are made in the appropriate places.

donellis wrote:

But I stopped the upload at about the 10% mark, so 90% of those files aren't on iCloud.

None of that matters. No files are moved off your hard drive. They get uploaded to iCloud in the background.

When you turn it off, hard links of the files are created in iCloud's local storage, Mobile Documents. The links to the files are removed from your Desktop and Documents folders. Again, nothing is floating around in the ether.

Are the files in iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents folders?

Your Pictures and Photos folders being grayed out have nothing to do with iCloud Drive, so something else may be wrong causing the issues you are having with your files.

Yes, that is the one. All of your files should appear in those folders. I can't remember what they look like if they haven't been uploaded.

If they are not all there, I don't know what to tell you.

If they are there, even if not uploaded, you can drag them into your home folder Desktop and Documents folders to move them off iCloud and back into your Home folder. It's got to be off to see your Desktop and Documents folders in your Home folder.

Well, the technically are in both places when you have Desktop & Documents in iCloud Drive enabled.

Your Mac has a local copy, and there is another copy in iCloud. Most everything in iCloud has a local copy on your Mac. If you enable Optimize storage, then it may remove some files from your Mac if you need the space.

On sidebar, double check that favorites is not closed.

If you hover over the word "Favorites" you'll see "Hide" and "Show" appear to the right.

Click show. This photo shows favorites when it is in hide mode.

I am able to find folders by entering the folder name in search and I found some other help in this article: https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/show-hidden-files-mac-3520878/

This is the most honest explanation of the problem that I've read. Apple owes it to its users to be more straightforward in explaining the implications of their iCloud choice and, if a wrong choice is made, how to simply reverse it. Up to know, I've been thrilled with my Mac -- Now I'm wondering, "Why the lack of up-front candor?" There is a clear programming bias here on the part of Apple: Why else, make it very easy to choose the cloud? But very, very difficult to get out of it? If so, that's not right. Is this about "optimizing" my drive space? Or "maximizing" my use of the cloud? Bottom line, I want my own documents and desktop programs visible on my own computer and no need to use the cloud other than when I want to, not as a default. There needs to be a simple way to reverse this and Robbie's right, Apple should provide it.

same thing happening here. All the files in my desktop suddenly disappeared after the operating system was updated. So bad, could not find some of my important documentaries. Shame on apple, I will never ever buy it again and I will share the awful experience to my friends

You've enable Desktop & Documents in iCloud Drive. What you see is what is expected. The Desktop & Documents folders now "appear" in iCloud Drive. If you are not seeing them in the iCloud Drive section in the Sidebar, that is another matter that needs to be investigated (as others are trying to do).

The only way to get your Desktop and Documents folders showing again in your Home folder is to disable Desktop & Documents in iCloud Drive.

• It will warn you that if you disable it, the files will remain on iCloud Drive, but you will have Empty Desktop and Documents folders in your Home folder. It will also tell you that you can then move the files from iCloud Drive back into the Folders in your Home.
• When you attempt to do that, it will warn you that you will be removing the files from iCloud Drive and they will only be available on your Mac.

All of that moving is just obfuscation. Your Desktop & Documents folders still reside where they were with the files in them. Finder just makes it look like they are not there and in iCloud Drive instead.

When you disable the feature, it makes hard links* to the files in iCloud Drive's local storage location and then deletes the files from the now-visible Desktop and Documents. When you copy the files back over, it doesn't really copy them (or move them), it just creates new hard links in your home folders. The copy will be relatively instantaneous unless some of the files were "optimized" and are only available on iCloud Drive (not applicable in your case since you didn't optimize). In that case, they will have to be downloaded. All of that is done by the OS.

*hard links

asimo...... wrote:

same thing happening here. All the files in my desktop suddenly disappeared after the operating system was updated. So bad, could not find some of my important documentaries. Shame on apple, I will never ever buy it again and I will share the awful experience to my friends

All you have to do is read. I didn't have any problem reading or understanding the implications when it asked me if I wanted to move my files to iCloud Drive.