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Turning off iCloud Desktop and Documents: where your files go, and the copy you might leave

When you turn it off, your files stay in iCloud Drive and your Mac gets empty folders. How to bring them back without losing any, or keeping two copies.

5 min read

You turn off Desktop and Documents Folders in iCloud Drive settings, and your Desktop is suddenly empty. Nothing is lost. macOS leaves your files in iCloud Drive and gives your Mac new, empty Desktop and Documents folders. You have to move them back yourself.

Where the files are

Open Finder, iCloud Drive. You will see folders called Desktop and Documents. Those are your files.

ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

Bringing them back safely

  1. Make sure the files are downloaded. If a file shows a cloud icon, it is only in iCloud. Select the folders, Control-click and choose Download Now.
  2. Check you have space. Downloading 30 GB of Documents needs 30 GB free.
  3. Drag the contents of iCloud Drive, Desktop into your Mac's Desktop, and the same for Documents. Hold Command while dragging to move rather than copy.
  4. Check a few files open from their new place.
  5. Delete the now empty Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud Drive.

The duplicate trap

If you copy rather than move, you end up with the files twice: once on the Mac and once in iCloud Drive, which may also be downloaded to the Mac. That can double the space they take.

du -sh ~/Desktop ~/Documents
du -sh ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/{Desktop,Documents} 2>/dev/null

Why turn it off at all

Some people do it so Desktop files stop disappearing to the cloud, or because iCloud storage is full. If space on the Mac is the concern, keeping the setting on with Optimize Mac Storage usually saves more. See iCloud Drive taking up space and the Documents folder.

Common questions

Where do my files go when I turn off iCloud Desktop and Documents?

They stay in iCloud Drive, in folders called Desktop and Documents. Your Mac gets new empty folders, and you move the files back yourself.

Will turning off Desktop and Documents in iCloud delete my files?

No. They remain in iCloud Drive. Download them, move them to the Mac's folders, then remove the iCloud copies once checked.

Why do I have two copies of my Documents folder?

Usually because files were copied back from iCloud Drive rather than moved. Check both locations and delete one set after confirming the other is complete.

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