Documents Folder and Many Files Missing After Tahoe Upgrade

Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive was enabled. If you don’t want it, turn it off in the iCloud settings.

I am not sure why Apple decided to do this because I have plenty of space left on my laptop. How do I get the Documents folder back on my mac locally and how do I make sure all of the files that went missing are back locally?

It already is. It’s actually still in the exact same place it was. Finder just doesn’t show it there. Absolutely nothing was moved at all. When you turn it off, it will all look like it has moved, but it still won’t actually move at all. It is just file system sleight of hand.

budzinsk wrote:

Thanks. When I turned this off, there is nothing in the folder located on my harddrive. I guess everything was moved to icloud, but when I clicked this off, the folder shows up but it is empty.

Yes, all of that was described in the dialogues you clicked through when you turned it off. As it explained, you must “move“ the files back into that folder from whichever method you chose.

Wish I would not trust the iCloud & Timemachine that much as I did not backup my files anywhere else and something you describing happened to me. For some reason I only see timemachine backup from 2 days ago and that has the same issue. I updated Tahoe to 26.1 around 2-3 days ago so it's 99% issue of that.

I was calling with Apple Senior Advisor today for around 30-40 minutes and they still don't know, what might be the problem and if they can retrieve my 10 years worth of data. I have a scheduled call for tomorrow, where hopefully I will get update. Really hoping for some miracle.

budzinsk wrote:

After my Mac upgraded to Tahoe 26.1, the documents folder was now stored in the cloud and it is gone from my laptop. When I tried to access the files in icloud, many are missing.

I have them backed up via a 3rd party tool (idrive), but I would rather not back them up that way.

I am not sure why Apple decided to do this because I have plenty of space left on my laptop.

How do I get the Documents folder back on my mac locally and how do I make sure all of the files that went missing are back locally? Thanks!

Seems like it would be a glitch of some sort or an anomaly — not something that Apple did...

Have not heard this as something wide spread on everyone's machine. So makes me a bit suspect your accusation.

restore items backed up with Time Machine

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

see if there is anything here—

Work with folders and files in iCloud Drive

If you value your user data

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

More than one device, more than one backup methodology— and backup regularly.

further—

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/

Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone

See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

budzinsk wrote:

Thanks. How do I get Finder to show the Documents folder that is located on the computer instead of the cloud?

I don't use iCloud Drive.

Finder>Settings>Sidebar>Documents

see if there is anything here—

How to Restore Your Desktop and Documents After Disabling ...

https://www.howtogeek.com/273629/how-to-restore-your-desktop-and-documents-after-disabling-icloud-sync-in-macos-sierra/

How to find your Documents and Desktop folder contents after disabling ...

https://www.macworld.com/article/3396119/how-to-find-your-documents-and-desktop-folder-contents-after-disabling-icloud-sync.html

Finder>Go>Go to Folder>copy & paste:

~/iCloud Drive (Archive)

iCloud Drive (Archive) - here you should find all your files 

Recover deleted files on iCloud.com

Recover deleted files on iCloud.com - Apple Support