Signed out of iCloud/iCloud drive, now I have a corrupted Documents - Local folder

Hey all,

Upgraded recently to an M3 Max Macbook from a 2019 Intel Model. I transferred all of my data from one laptop to the other using a thunderbolt cable, so by the end of the setup they were essentially the "same" laptop.

For whatever reason which I don't exactly remember right now, I either signed out from iCloud in this new M3, or I turned off and then on iCloud drive or "Desktop and Documents."

That caused my laptop to create a Documents - Local folder in my User folder. The problem is that everything is corrupted. If I try to open, say, a PDF file, I get this message: The file “whatever.pdf” could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognise.

I then signed into the web version of iCloud, and went into Data recovery. There were thousands of files in there, all seemed to have been deleted on the same day. After three days of downloading (very buggy feature), I now have a Documents - iCloud folder in addition to that local folder. MOST of the files are the same, but there are some missing ones still. The ones in the iCloud version open no problem when downloaded. Even after downloading, however, the Local versions are still corrupt, so the 2 "Documents" folders are not communicating/syncing with each other.

In Apple's "Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive" support page, it is noted:

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.

What happens when you turn off iCloud Drive or sign out of iCloud?

If you turn off iCloud Drive or sign out of iCloud, a new Desktop and Documents folder will be created in your home folder.You also have the option to keep a local copy of your files that are in iCloud Drive. If you keep a local copy of your files that are in iCloud Drive, they will be copied to a folder called iCloud Drive (Archive) in your home folder. You can move any files that were in your iCloud Desktop and Documents to your new local Desktop and Documents.

My question is: Is there a way to "revert" back to having ONE Documents (and Desktop) folders, which is both local and synced with iCloud, and not having separate iCloud and Local folders?