Folder disappeared from my MacBook Air desktop

I did a load of rearranging and deleting files on my MacBook Air 2 days ago and somehow one of my desktop folders simply disappeared containing a LOT of important files. I searched for it by name with File>Find and Spotlight and nothing. I logged in to the cloud and it is not there. I opened my Files Folder on my iPad and iPhone, I watched the said missing folder disappear before my eyes while the devices automatically synced. Where the heck did it go and how do I get it back? I could not have trashed it. I found a few ideas online... one of which was to simply restart the machine and when I did it, a bunch of files that I had previously moved to other folders in my initial rearranging showed up again. What is going on?

Posted on Sep 26, 2026 7:52 AM

1 reply

DmitryRyzhkin

Level 2 (228 points)

Sep 28, 2026 7:42 AM in response to sharbear99

Since it vanished from your iPhone and iPad too, it was deleted through iCloud Drive, and iCloud keeps deleted items for 30 days even if they never show up in your Mac's Trash. There's nothing for this in Finder itself, it's only on the web.

On any computer, go to icloud.com/iclouddrive and sign in. In the sidebar on the left there's Recently Deleted. If the folder is in there, select it and click Recover, and it goes back where it was.

Until it turns up I'd hold off on more rearranging. The files that came back after your restart sound like iCloud was still catching up with your earlier moves, and Apple itself says not to change iCloud Drive while you're recovering.

— Dmitry · developer of ComfortFiles