Despite being warned, I didn’t take it. I’ve disabled iCloud and it cleared my desktop. However, my files remain there when I access’recents’ in my video editing software. Could you please clarify the best process for stepping forward? I could manually restore my files from an external disk, but I’m afraid that might worsen the situation. How should I proceed? – Sonoma 14.3.1 on the Apple M1.
You must have enabled iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents folders on your Mac, this feature syncs the Desktop and Documents folders with iCloud and makes them accessible across your Apple devices.
When you disable it, the data stays on your iCloud drive, and a new Desktop and Documents folder named iCloud Drive (Archive) is created in the Mac home folder. This explains why some Mac users discovered that when they disabled iCloud Drive Desktop & Documents, the Desktop data vanished. Once you re-enable iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents folder, the previous files will appear on your desktop again.
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Even if you turned off iCloud drive for the Desktop & Documents folder, the files are still stored in iCloud, you can move files from iCloud to Mac. Or, you can open the iCloud Drive(Archive) folder from the Home folder which contains previous desktop and documents files, and drag-drop any wanted files to the desktop again. The external hard drive backup is also an alternative.
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So appreciated! I find all the disappeared desktop files in my home folder. I would like to move them to the desktop, and I don’t want to enable iCloud Drive for my desktop later.