Mojave: Docs & Desktop iCloud sync

You are wrong: I never removed any files from

my Documents folder. The iCloud Drive software removed every file. All I did was turn the feature on and then seconds later turn the feature off. Turning something on and then off is not an instruction to delete my Documents folder.

Bad feeling indeed not knowing if your files have synced correctly, then disappearing from your Documents folder. I'm resorting to old-school external drive backups just in case.

They are not moved into Mobile Documents. Perhaps that was your problem.

The Desktop and Documents folders still exist exactly where they were with all files inside of them. The Finder just hides them in the home folder and shows them in the iCloud Drive folder. Again, nothing moved.

I found this weird because I wanted my Documents to remain where they had always been and remain on my local hdd.

Just drag it back into Favorites. It is still exactly where it was in the file system, Finder just doesn't show you that it is there.

You should not have to be a Mac OS ninja to manage your files.

You don't. Just read the information provided. I'm not sure what is unclear about this:

If this is unclear, send feedback to Apple. https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Are you files still in iCloud Drive? Mine remained there and it explained I would have to Move them from iCloud Drive back to my Mac if that's what I wanted.

Fundamentally ICloud Drive is software that deletes files off of your hard drive — which is where you put them in the first place and where you assume they reside. When I install a TimeMachine it is as a backup. ICloud is nothing like TimeMachine. It is some kind of AI that thinks it knows best what to do with your files. Like some commentators say, iCloud Drive works the way it is supposed to, but that doesn’t make it a good feature. It is a dangerous feature that easily lead to massive loss in data as happened to me. (You can accuse me of stupidity, but I purchase Mac products for their ease of use and their simplicity. They are promoted as idiot proof.) Apple doesn’t adequately explain that it is doing this. Just a small 3” window with 6 lines of text is not a proper communication or interface for a feature that is deleting the most important files off your computer. Apple is abusing its role and taking control of your files with little explanation. It has a close parallel to what Facebook does when they take control of your data. Apple complains about Facebook, but in fact they are doing the same thing when take control do your files with iCloud Drive.

Fundamentally ICloud Drive is software that deletes files off of your hard drive

No, it doesn't, unless you tell it to do it. By making that statement, you show that you have no idea how it works.

ICloud is nothing like TimeMachine.

No, it isn't. What made you think it was a backup system?

Just a small 3” window with 6 lines of text is not a proper communication or interface for a feature that is deleting the most important files off your computer.

It doesn't delete anything from your computer, as I have explained. You chose to delete things off your computer.

Even when you disable the feature, the files remain on your computer in the backing store for iCloud Drive. You ignored all of the information given to you and deleted your own files.

There is more info here if the two excessive dialog boxes weren't enough:

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

What made me think it is a backup system? Maybe because they call it a "Drive". I was always taught that drive is something that files are placed on, not AI software that takes files off my hdd.

If they had called "iCloud File Management" I would have never clicked on it. I like to manage my own files. Calling it a "Drive" when it is AI is misleading.

it could be settled (but I am not volunteering to do do, I am afraid) by checking the total file size of one's computer hard drive before and after the operation.

Completely unnecessary. Just look at the Desktop and Documents directories in Terminal:

You can see that it is enabled and the Desktop and Documents folders still exist inside my Home folder. They are not symlinks or aliases. There are also files inside of those directories.

Like others in this thread, I thought that the iCloud Drive functioned as a simple backup system, like backing up files to DropBox or any other cloud service, that in turn synced to other devices. That turns out not to be right, as many of us have found to our chagrin. I want my Documents and Desktop files to be visible through the Finder, not hidden from me and accessible only through iCloud Drive, thereby holding me hostage to Apple storage fees, among other issues.

But how to undo the error of having turned on Desktop and Documents inside iCloud Drive in the first place? I tried unchecking the box, but as others point out that does exactly the opposite of what one wants -- it deletes all the relevant files from one's hard drive, when what one wants is for the syncing to be broken but all the files restored to their ordinary place inside the Home folder, accessible via the Finder.

I tried signing out of my iCloud account, because that promised to create an archive file containing my D&D folders in my Home folder. But 24 hours later, the process had not completed.

Here's what I did that works, following the hints from Luis and Michael above.

1. Create new folders inside the Home folder labeled New Documents and New Desktop.
2. Create a second Finder View and go to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/. This opens a view into iCloud Drive. You will see your D&D folders sitting there. As has been pointed out, the D&D files are still physically on your Hard Drive, but Apple has made it impossible to access them via the Finder -- instead one must reach them via the iCloud Drive. And Apple further prohibits one from copying the Desktop or Documents folders in iCloud Drive back to your Home folder. BUT, Apple does permit one to move files from iCloud Drive back to Finder-accessible folders.
3. So just select all files inside the iCloud Drive Documents folder, and move them to Home => New Documents folder. Because the files are all on the hard drive already, the process takes seconds. Then move the files inside the iCloud Drive Desktop folder to Home => New Desktop.
4. Now go to iCloud preferences => iCloud Drive and unselect the Desktop and Documents option. Read the message that these folders will be removed from your computer, hold your breath, and proceed -- the files have been moved out of iCloud Drive already.
5. The Mac OS automatically creates new Desktop and Documents folders inside your Home folder. Select and copy all the files inside Home => New Desktop to Desktop, and the files inside Home => New Documents to Documents.
6. Praying to whichever deity suits your fancy, restart.
7. All should be returned to normal.

This worked for me, but I make no guarantees, express or implied.

Edward

This is what I said. The point that was obscure to me was that while I could not move the Documents folder out of iCloud drive, i could move the files it contained. And the warning dialog plainly says that files are removed from the hard drive, which I took seriously. Or, as we used to say in Brooklyn, thankyouverymuch.

You deleted the Archive. You deleted your files. You failed to read the dialog boxes. You chose your ignorance and lost all of your files.