Cannot delete folder from iCloud Drive

There is an empty folder entitled "Desktop" in my iCloud Drive. Whenever I delete it, it just reappears. I am not logged into iCloud on any Mac laptop or PC. My only devices are an iPhone, an iPad and an Apple Watch.


I tried turning iCloud Drive on & off, on every device I have. I tried looking in the settings. No matter what I do, that empty folder is still there and it cannot be deleted. How can I get rid of it?

iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 20, 2024 9:44 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 22, 2024 9:07 PM

I was able to delete an empty folder that was giving me grief stating the folder must be downloaded. Open iCloud drive via web/safari then selected the folder and successfully deleted from iCloud.com. Hope this helps others.

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2 replies

Sep 22, 2024 9:27 PM in response to Vlad314

Vlad314 Said:

"Cannot delete folder from iCloud Drive: There is an empty folder entitled "Desktop" in my iCloud Drive. Whenever I delete it, it just reappears. I am not logged into iCloud on any Mac laptop or PC. My only devices are an iPhone, an iPad and an Apple Watch. I tried turning iCloud Drive on & off, on every device I have. I tried looking in the settings. No matter what I do, that empty folder is still there and it cannot be deleted. How can I get rid of it?"

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Troubleshooting a Reappearing File in iCloud Drive:

Use a computer...


One unique method...

Download All of iCloud:

One thought would be to download all of iCloud to an external drive. Once downloaded, verify your can access the data. Once verified, trash what is in iCloud. As for seeing through the download, do so in Finder on a Mac. You would download it to an external drive, and then open the drive in Finder. Search through it using the search bar on the top-right corner of the Finder window. Once downloaded, trash what is in there. Then, upload it all back. Use my user tip: Getting a Quick and Direct "iCloud Drive-to-External Hard Drive" Download - User Tip

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Cannot delete folder from iCloud Drive

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