iCloud has removed a major folder from my iMac, and duplicated it, on my Macbook, & I'm thoroughly confused.

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Level 2

325 points

iCloud has removed a major folder from my iMac, and duplicated it, on my Macbook, & I'm thoroughly confused.

I must've selected to share my Documents & Desktop folders to the cloud. However, on my iMac, I no longer have them shown in the sidebar, and must click on the iCloud icon, and then click on one or the other folders within it. And I'm assuming, that if I'm not connected to the internet, I probably can't access either folder, since they both exist only in the cloud.

Meanwhile, in attempting to transfer, or merely sync those folders to my MacBook Pro, somehow I ended up with my Documents file (& maybe the Desktop, too), duplicated, so I have two of everything in the folders! Both of these situations are not what I intended, nor want.

I read that I can drag folders from iCloud to my computer, but I tried and nothing moved. Although on the MacBook it could be how I now have a duplicate of those folders. Why is this not made more clear? When I selected them to be shared/synced via the cloud, I never wanted them to not be on my computer. And then everytime I moved a file from either folder, I get a window popping up asking me if I really want to remove that item from the cloud!! I don't want it to be only in the cloud, so what do I do??

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jul 8, 2019 5:12 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tygb

Level 9

64,690 points

Jul 10, 2019 11:01 PM in response to Saxman

In Mac system preferences > iCloud if you have set up iCloud Drive https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204025

And if click on option button in front of iCloud Drive and the box of desktop and documents is checked https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206985

If you delete file / documents from www.icloud.com by clicking on trash icon , or directly drag and drop the file/ document from www.icloud.com to the trash of Mac ( ie. the trash icon located in dock ) , and you restart the Mac and empty the trash it deletes files / documents permanently .

Note : the iCloud Drive settings are by default / should not be unchecked for better results .

Also some Mac users archive the documents / files , uncheck the box of iCloud Drive , and click on keep a copy .

a ) Open system preferences > click on iCloud and click on sign out , you can see a window stating do you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data on this Mac before signing out ? The boxes iCloud Drive , contacts , calendars , reminders are checked by default - so click on keep a copy .Immediately click on stop updating and continue , a pop up window will appear are you sure you want to stop updating and continue with sign out ( any documents not updated to iCloud Drive , will be moved to a folder named “ iCloud Drive archive in your home folder on this Mac ) so don’t click on “ cancel “ but " click on continue with sign out ."

The iCloud Drive ( archive ) folder with its documents / files can be viewed by clicking on finder in the dock , take cursor on top menu bar > Go > Home > your user name .

This always help suppose an administrator by mistake delete files / documents either from iCloud Drive section of finder side bar or from www.icloud.com and move to trash , restart the Mac and empty the trash the data will be lost forever , so in these scenarios he can once again move these files / documents individually from iCloud ( archive ) folder directly to Documents folder in finder itself , if there are many files / documents use command and A keys to select all of them , copy them ( command and C ) , come to the Document folder in the finder side bar ( tap the documents folder to select it and paste over ( command and V keys ) the document folder all files / documents say created with Microsoft or individual folder with some files will once again transferred .

Note : deleting the document / desktop folder from finder side bar ( right click on it and remove from side bar will only disappear it but once again reappear by checking the box of relevant folder in finder preferences .

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Answer 2

Saxman Author

Level 2

325 points

Jul 10, 2019 3:09 AM in response to mulberry58

I don't know what you are referring to. When I open Preferences in Finder, there's nothing that says navigation, navigation tab, or finder Favorites. Can you be more specific as to where I'd find this? Under Tags, there's just a list of colors, under the heading, : Show these tags in the sidebar, and below, it says "drag your favorite tags in the area below, etc." But there's no names of folders anywhere.

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Answer 3

Saxman Author

Level 2

325 points

Jul 10, 2019 10:23 PM in response to tygb

Not sure how those articles were supposed help me, plus they are for Mojave while I'm using High Sierra, so I don't know if that would make a difference. Plus, it still doesn't explain why I can't keep my desktop & documents on my computer, and copies saved on iCloud, and, it never explained the difference between storing in iCloud or using iCloud Drive, nor what "upgrading" is, I would be upgrading from what to what? Lots of relevant info missing here, IMHO.

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