Downloads folder showing only old download files

I have a MacBook Pro early 2015, using MacOS Monterey 12.7.6. My downloads folder shows in the sidebar, it is checked to show in the sidebar in Preferences and it is the default location for all downloads.

Two days ago I opened it and all it showed was downloads up to June 2025 despite the fact that it had shown all current downloads the day before. When I open the hard drive location, Users (there's only me) and open Downloads there, they are all shown. I copied the Downloads folder to the desktop and now when I open Downloads from the sidebar it opens that desktop folder. If I put the desktop folder in the Bin, the sidebar icon opens the folder but won't open any file because 'this file is in the bin and must be restored before it can be opened'.