synching icloud and desktop restores older versions of desktop items

I wanted to be able to have my documents on my laptop as well as in iCloud, so I switched on 'Desktop and Document Folders' in my Apple Account. This did the trick but created an unexpected problem: the items that appeared on my desktop were old versions (2 to 3 years old), whereas the up-to-date items that should be on my desktop were stored in a new folder somewhere on my computer. I proceeded to recreate my desktop manually by dragging the items from this new folder to my desktop and erasing the older versions.

But now, every time I restart my laptop, the older versions reappear, as well as the correct up-to-date versions.

How do I keep these useless older items from reappearing?