How to restore individual folder contents on iMac after Tahoe 26.1 update?

Question

How to restore individual folder contents on iMac after Tahoe 26.1 update?

I have had a major Problem since updating to Tahoe 26.1 on my iMac.

I have a number of folders on my desktop covering different topics and comprising word documents, jpg's,pdf.s,photos,videos etc.

Now each individual folder (18 in all) contains the same thing, which is all the thousands of items which would comprise the total across all the folders.So in order to find any specific item I have to search through everything that I have done and saved on the computer for a number of years, in any of the folders.

How can I get out of this?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Contents of folders on my desktop have all coalesced into total of all saved items in each folder

iMac (M3, 2023)

Posted on Nov 24, 2025 11:58 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

121,964 points

Nov 25, 2025 3:03 AM in response to nickfromsingapore

No idea what you are seeing or why.

Ctrl-click on the Desktop and turn off “Use Stacks” if it is enabled.

Did Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive get enabled?

Neither would cause what you describe, but I don’t know how it could happen.

Have you restarted?

Try starting up in Safe Mode and look at the folders. Any change? Restart normally and check.

If it cannot be resolved, Restore each folder from your backup.

Reply