Double Document and Desktop Folders in iCloud

When I selected Desktop and Documents to add them to iCloud on my new iMac, 2 Document Folders and 2 Desktop Folders were created on the iCloud Drive (as seen in Finder). The folder names became "Document" and "Document 2" and "Desktop" and "Desktop 2". Unfortunately, my iMac is saving documents to the "Document" Folder -- but my other devices, such as my laptop are only accessing "Document 2" from the cloud. In fact, it doesn't seem that my iMac's "Document" folder on the iCloud Drive is sending any files to the cloud for access to other devices. So my problem is that my iMac is only saving files to "Document," but the files that store into the cloud seem to be only in "Document 2." All these folders live on my iCloud Drive. When I save documents on either of my two laptops, I can find them in "Document 2" on the iCloud Drive on my iMac...

iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Nov 26, 2022 10:58 PM

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Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 28, 2022 5:49 PM

Hi mnboston,


Did you manually add those folders to iCloud Drive? If so, that may be what caused this to happen. To resolve this, we'd recommend first making a backup of all contents of all of the Desktop and Documents folders.


Once you have your data secured, go ahead and turn off Desktop and Documents for iCloud:


"Turn off Desktop and Documents

  1. From your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences. 
  2. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud.
  3. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  4. Deselect Desktop & Documents Folders.
  5. Click Done.

"


After this, delete all instances of the "Desktop 2" and "Documents 2" folders.


Once that is complete, re-enable Desktop and Documents for iCloud:


"Turn on Desktop and Documents

Turn on Desktop and Documents on every Mac that you want to use with iCloud Drive.

  1. From your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences.
  2.  Click Apple ID, then click iCloud.
  3. Make sure that iCloud Drive is turned on.
  4. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  5. Choose Desktop & Documents Folders.
  6. Desktop & Documents Folders is the first item in the list.

  7. Click Done.

If you want to store your files in iCloud Drive and another cloud storage service, you can keep copies of your files in both, but you can't keep folders from a third-party cloud service in iCloud Drive. You can keep your other cloud service folders in a different place on your Mac, like the home folder.

"

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support


Once completed, everything should be working properly.


Cheers.

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Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Nov 28, 2022 5:49 PM in response to mnboston

Hi mnboston,


Did you manually add those folders to iCloud Drive? If so, that may be what caused this to happen. To resolve this, we'd recommend first making a backup of all contents of all of the Desktop and Documents folders.


Once you have your data secured, go ahead and turn off Desktop and Documents for iCloud:


"Turn off Desktop and Documents

  1. From your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences. 
  2. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud.
  3. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  4. Deselect Desktop & Documents Folders.
  5. Click Done.

"


After this, delete all instances of the "Desktop 2" and "Documents 2" folders.


Once that is complete, re-enable Desktop and Documents for iCloud:


"Turn on Desktop and Documents

Turn on Desktop and Documents on every Mac that you want to use with iCloud Drive.

  1. From your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences.
  2.  Click Apple ID, then click iCloud.
  3. Make sure that iCloud Drive is turned on.
  4. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
  5. Choose Desktop & Documents Folders.
  6. Desktop & Documents Folders is the first item in the list.

  7. Click Done.

If you want to store your files in iCloud Drive and another cloud storage service, you can keep copies of your files in both, but you can't keep folders from a third-party cloud service in iCloud Drive. You can keep your other cloud service folders in a different place on your Mac, like the home folder.

"

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support


Once completed, everything should be working properly.


Cheers.

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Double Document and Desktop Folders in iCloud

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