loss of desktop files when turning off icloud

If you turned off iCloud for Documents and Desktop, it created the Archive ICloud file on home drive . ICloud shows no documents on it.

It will prompt the items from this desktop and the documents folder are available in iCloud Drive , to remove items from iCloud Drive , move them to your desktop and documents folder on this Mac , click on show in finder .

Again open system preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > the box of desktops and documents box is unchecked , tap over the box to get it rechecked , a circle rotates setting up the box gets checked .

You will notice a folder is created literally on the desktop , tap it a pop up window appears the items on this desktop on this Mac have been moved into a new folder called “ Desktops - Apples Mac book …( the name of Mac will be written in the existing desktop folder in iCloud Drive , you can combine the contents of these folders any time , click on show in finder .

Right click on the folder created on the Mac and move to trash , restart the Mac and empty the trash , but again the documents are placed in a right place in iCloud Drive as well in iCloud server .

https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchlp1774/10.14/mac/10.14

By unchecking the box of desktops and documents - the files and documents created are invisible temporarily both in iCloud Drive and www.icloud.com but they are not deleted from the server and still occupying the space .

Everything will still be there

What happens when you turn off Desktop and Documents

When you turn off Desktop & Documents Folders, your files stay in iCloud Drive and a new Desktop and Documents folder is created on your Mac in the home folder. You can move files from iCloud Drive to your Mac as you need them, or select all of your files and drag them to the place you want to keep them.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206985