Jun 08, 2020  Open the Application Support → Dock folder and get rid of the files. You should see alphanumeric characters as names. Now, log out and log back into your account. Now, Dock and Launchpad will reset and scan the Applications folders. Your Mac will restart. Once it reboots, all of your missing apps would appear in Launchpad.

1. App Folder Won't Disappear Mac Iphone
2. Box Drive Folder Disappears

Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Jan 16, 2019  Select an app, file, or folder and drag it out of the Dock. When it is hovering over your desktop, you will see the word Remove appear above the app, file, or folder. Let go of the app, file, or folder. It will disappear from the Dock. Repeat the steps above to. Oct 09, 2016  In the image you can see that the mail folders in my On My Mac section are currently displayed. Thus, if you move your cursor to the circled area you’d see a Hide button. If you click this button your folders would disappear. Similarly, the mail folders in the iCloud section are currently not displayed. If you moved your cursor to the circled.

There are a lot of users who recently reported that few files from their Mac desktop are missing or they’ve just got disappeared. It is quite surprising for those users who have a habit of saving their important files on the desktop.

If this sounds you, then you may probably know how much it is annoying to lose your files you need the most. In such cases, you might be looking for ways to get back your missing desktop files. The good news is that there are some effective methods that can help you to recover missing files on Mac with ease.

Here, in this article, we have mentioned several ways you can try to locate your desktop files that have disappeared somehow.

Why Desktop Files Disappeared from Mac?

When users see that all desktop files disappeared from their Mac, one question surely comes to their mind how it happens and why their Mac desktop files are missing. Well, there are a number of reasons for this situation. Here, we have covered some of them you need to know:

1. It might be because you have chosen to keep your Desktop and Documents files on iCloud and that’s why your files disappear from the desktop. If this is the case, then all you need to do is to check your iCloud settings in “System Preferences”>”iCloud”>”iCloud Drive” options.
2. Sometimes, files get permanently deleted or lost due to various reasons, such as virus-attack, power-failure on your Mac. In such cases, you need powerful data recovery software for Mac to recover your permanently deleted or lost files.
3. Maybe you have moved some files to another location, such as Trash from your desktop on your Mac and you completely forgot about it or can’t remember where you’ve moved them. In such cases, you can try to remember or check Trash folder because maybe you have moved files to this folder.

Well, the main concern is how to locate files disappeared from Mac. Now, we are going to mention several methods that can help you to do that.

Method 1. Disable the File Sync with iCloud

Latest versions of macOS come with an iCloud feature that enables users to sync their Mac Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive. The feature allows you to access your Mac desktop and documents folders across different devices, which include iOS devices, other Mac, and iCloud.com.

Thus, if you have saved desktop and documents folders in iCloud Drive, then your desktop and documents folders moved to the iCloud part of your of Finder sidebar. In this scenario, all you can do to show you missing files on Mac is to disable iCloud drive. To learn how to check iCloud drive settings to get back the lost or disappeared desktop files, follow the below steps:

1. To start with, move to the Apple menu, and then, go to System Preferences.
2. Now, click on iCloud and then, click on “Options” next to iCloud.
3. Here, you need to uncheck the box “Desktop & Documents Folders” and finally, click on “Done” button.

While you are doing the above process, you will get a warning message saying “If you continue, items will be removed from the desktop and the documents folder on this Mac and will remain available in iCloud Drive”. So, here all you have to do is to continue with the process and open every desktop and documents folders that are displayed in iCloud Drive. To recover your missing files, you can simply drag them to the new empty desktop folder.

Method 2. Recover Missing Files on Mac in 3 Steps

If you are looking for an easy and quick way to recover your missing files on Mac, then data recovery software for Mac can help you to do that. Unlike common ways, the software is specially designed to help users to get back their files with ease.

1. Recoverit - The Best Software to Recover Word Files:

Whenever you experience a data loss situation, Recoverit Data Recovery Mac will help you to retrieve it. This data recovery software will come in handy even when you’ve never made a backup of your device. You now know how to partition Mac hard drive and unpartition it. But knowing how you can recover the lost or deleted files from the drive is also necessary.

2. How to Recover Lost Word Files on Mac:

Step 1: Select a Location

Launch the software and select the drive from where the data files are lost. If you don’t know which drive to search, tap on the “I can’t find my partition” option and hit the Start button.

Step 2: Scan the Location

Typically, the software will run an All-Around Recovery scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive.

Step 3: Preview and Recover

When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview at them.

Method 3. Use macOS Mojave Stacks

There is no doubt that if there is any convenient place to store and place files on Mac, it is desktop. By saving files on the desktop, you can access them easily and quickly and the best thing is that you don’t have to go through various folders. But, sometimes important files present on your Mac desktop get disappeared or lost somehow.

Luckily, there is good news for users who have updated their Mac system to macOS Mojave. There is one new desktop feature added in the macOS Mojave, and it is desktop stacks. With the help of this new feature, you can easily locate your missing files on Mac. Before you learn how to locate files on Mac using macOS Mojave stacks, you need to first understand what exactly stacks feature is?

What is Stacks?

Well, they are virtual folders that can help you to manage and corral your files on Mac. You might don’t know that they have been included in macOS Dock for many years, but they are now quite helpful for users who are looking for ways to locate missing or lost desktop files.

The main concept here is “virtual folders”. They are not actual directories in the file system of your Mac. All of your Mac files remain in their original locations. However, macOS Mojave stacks collect all of these files and show them to you under one expanding folder.

Thus, if you have updated your Mac to Mojave, and files present on your desktop seem to disappear, then you don’t have to worry. They are probably hiding behind this new stacks feature. Here, we are going to show how you can use desktop stacks in macOS Mojave.

Turn on desktop stacks in Mojave:

1. Go to your Mac desktop, here you need to select the “View” tab from the menu bar located at top of the screen.
2. Next, you need to choose “Use Stacks” option. Or you can right-click on the desktop to get this option to enable it.

Find missing files using stacks:

Once you have enabled desktop stacks new feature, you can easily access the data of each stack and all you have to do is to click on its icon. Files it contains will be shown below and plus, other desktop files will be moved to the left for a temporary basis to make the room as required. If you click the stack once more, then it will get close and also, it will return all icons to their original locations.

Bonus Tip: How to Delete Files on Mac Desktop Safely

If you have a lot of folders and files on your Mac, then you might want to delete some files in order tofree up storage space on your system.

Here is the simple guide on how to delete files on Mac desktop:

1. To start with, locate files you want to delete on your Mac.
2. Select the files you want to get rid of them and drag them into the trash can located at the bottom of the screen. Or you can simply right-click on the selected files, and choose “Move to Trash” option from the list menu.

If there are some files you’ve deleted accidentally, then simply use “Command + Z” right away to undo the previous action. You also need to delete these files from Trash folder if you want to delete them permanently from your Mac.

There is no doubt that deleting or getting rid of unwanted and useless files on Mac is quite easy and straightforward. But, sometimes you end up deleting some important files while you are trying to clean your Mac system. Luckily, there are some tips you can follow to keep your data protected on Mac. Let’s give a look at all these tips and tricks:

• Back up your important files: The first and foremost tip to protect your data on Mac is to backup your important files. You may never know when you encounter a data loss situation on your Mac. If you’ve already back up your files, then you can easily recover them with ease in case if your files get lost or deleted somehow.
• Lock your Mac: When you have to step away from your Mac, don’t forget to lock your Mac to avoid unauthorized access to your important data.
• Keep passwords strong: While you are setting a password on your Mac, try to set a strong password that is hard to guess by someone else.

With the help of above-mentioned tips, you can easily protect your data and Mac too.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this guide helps Mac users who have reported that all my files are gone on Mac. There are good common measures to locate disappeared files on Mac. If you are unable to find your desired files even after using common methods, then Recoverit is here to help you. This data recovery tool for Mac can locate and recover lost, missing or disappearing files within a few minutes.

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Jun 17, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

It might sound surprising, but a lot of Mac users undergo issues like this related to their Mac folder icons, dock, and desktop. For instance, chances are that some folders can get disappeared from the desktop on Mac unexpectedly or your Mac toolbar can get hidden as well. Don’t worry – we are here to help you with every essential solution regarding Mac desktop and other related problems.

In this guide, we will discuss stepwise solutions related to numerous Mac desktop issues and even teach you how to get back lost Mac folders as well.

Why Does Everything on Desktop Disappear on Mac?

Before we discuss various Mac desktop issues, it is important to learn what could have caused them in the first place. When everything on my desktop disappeared on Mac, I tried to diagnose the problem and discovered the following reasons behind it:

• You could have accidentally deleted a file or icon from the desktop.
• Chances are that you might have disabled dock or taskbar.
• A third-party application could have changed your desktop settings.
• Mac settings would have been altered during an update or OS repair.
• There might be some change in the overall display or system settings on Mac.
• A clash between some other kernel and local OS process could have caused the issue.
• A broken firmware process or tamper with macOS can also cause the same.
• Sometimes, a virus or malware attack can also make your desktop icons or dock disappear.

Problem 1: Folders Disappeared From Desktop Mac

When it comes to everything disappearing from the desktop, the first problem must be the missing folders or hidden Mac folder icons. There would be a problem with system settings or you might have accidentally deleted something as well. Don’t worry – we have an easy solution for both of these issues.

1. Disable the iCloud Drive Sync

A lot of users have noticed that when the iCloud sync option is enabled on their Mac, it leads to the temporary unavailability of certain folders on the desktop. This is because while iCloud syncs the data, the relevant Mac folder icons become missing or hidden. If you want, you can just wait for the sync to finish or disable it altogether.

1. Firstly, go to your Mac’s System Preferences and open the iCloud application.
2. From here, just disable the iCloud Drive option by unchecking it.
3. If you want, you can also go to its “Options” to further customize things.

In the end, close the iCloud application on your Mac and go to the desktop to see if the icons are still missing or not on Mac.

2. Use a Missing Folder Recovery Tool

If you have accidentally deleted a folder from your Mac’s desktop, then this would be an ideal solution for you. With the help of Recoverit Mac Folder Recovery software, you can get back all kinds of deleted and lost content.

This includes the deleted folders on Mac as well. The tool is developed by Wondershare and is extremely easy to use. It can help you recover data lost due to a virus attack, formatted disk, accidental deletion, corrupt storage, and every other common scenario. The application features different scanning modes and is known for its high data recovery rate.

You can get the Mac desktop folder or any other content back using Recoverit by following these steps.

Step 1: Select the desktop disk

Go to the official website of Wondershare Recoverit and install the recovery tool on your Mac. When you launch it, you can select a location to scan. In this case, we will be performing data recovery on Mac’s internal hard drive (Macintosh HD) instead of any other connected source.

Step 2: Scan the desktop disk

As soon as you would click on the “Start” button, Recoverit will take the needed steps for data extraction. If you want positive results, then try not to close the application in between.

Step 3: Preview and recover desktop folders

When the data recovery process is completed, the application will display the results on the interface. You can go to any category of your choice from here and preview the retrieved content. Make the needed selection and click on the “Recover” button to save your files to a secure location.

In this way, you can easily get your documents that were disappeared back on Mac. In case if the quick scan was not able to fulfill your requirements, then you can do a deep scan as well. To do this, click on the “All-around Recovery” and wait as Recoverit would extract data from your Mac’s storage. While the deep scan would take more time than the quick scan, the results would also be far better.

How to Recover Desktop Files on Mac

Problem 2: Downloaded Folder on Mac’s Dock Disappeared

If you are a regular Mac user, then you must be familiar with the Downloads folder on Mac’s dock. By default, the Downloads folder is available on the dock for us to access with a single click. Nevertheless, there are times when the Downloads folder gets disappeared from Mac’s dock. You would have done it by mistake or an overwriting of settings could have also caused the same issue. To fix this and get the Download folder back on the dock, follow these steps:

1. Drag the Downloads Folder from the Home Directory

This is the easiest and the fastest solution to get the Downloads folder back on Mac’s dock. Firstly, we will go to the Home directory to access the folder, and later we will just reposition it on the dock.

1. To start with, just click on the “Go” option on the menu and open the Home directory from here.
2. Once the Home directory is opened, you can access multiple folders from here. Simply find the “Downloads” folder where all the downloaded data is stored.
3. Now, drag the Downloads folder and simply drop it to a relevant position on the dock. This will make the Downloads folder reappear on the dock.

2. Reset the Mac Dock

If the dock on your Mac is not working in an ideal manner, then you should consider resetting it as well. This will restore the dock to its default settings, which would automatically have the Downloads icon present. Here’s how you can quickly reset the dock and even resolve issues as Mac dock disappeared.

1. Click on the “Go” option from the menu and visit the “Utilities” folder.
2. Here, you can view all the utility tools on your Mac. Simply launch the Terminal app from here.
3. Now, enter the following commands on Terminal and press Enter: defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock
4. Close Terminal and try to access the Downloads folder on the dock once again.

Problem 3: Mac Desktop Icons Disappeared

App Folder Won't Disappear Mac Iphone

A lot of times, users complain that their Mac’s desktop icons have been disappeared. Why did Mac desktop icons disappear? What can make the icons gone? Sometimes missing icons are due to disk permissions or a macOS fault. In most cases, the reason is simple. An application could have overwritten the desktop icon settings, making them hidden or go missing. Therefore, if you wish to get your Mac icons back, then simply follow these steps.

1. Click on the Finder on your desktop and go to its Preferences.
2. Once the Finder Preferences tab is opened, go to its General section.
3. Here, you can see an option to show various icons on Mac. Just make sure that the relevant options (like hard disk, connected drives, etc.) are enabled here.

Problem 4: Toolbar on Mac Disappeared

The toolbar is one of the most important features on Mac’s desktop, which is often termed as the “menu bar” by many. Apart from having the icons of the important apps, it also gives us access to numerous settings and tools. Also, it displays time, notifications, and helps us manage our system. Though, there could be a change in your system’s settings that might have made the Mac toolbar hidden. You can easily fix the Mac toolbar missing issue by following these solutions.

1. Use System Preferences to Show the Toolbar

Just like the dock, you can also get back the Mac toolbar hidden on your desktop via System Preferences.

1. Firstly, go to the Apple menu on the top left and visit System Preferences.
2. From here, visit the General preference panel settings to explore the available options.
3. Under the Appearance section, you can view an option for “Automatically hide and show the menu bar”. Just disable this feature by unchecking the box to make the toolbar stay on Mac’s desktop.

2. Exit the Full-Screen Mode

Mac comes with a feature of the full screen that lets us have an uninterrupted and wider view of the screen. While the full-screen mode is good for watching videos, it makes Mac toolbar hidden, which can make it harder for you to access its settings. Therefore, you can just exit the full-screen mode to get the toolbar back.

To exit the full-screen mode, go to the menu bar location, and hover the cursor over it. Once you see it, go to the “View” menu and click on “Exit Full Screen”.

Additionally, you can also use the keyboard shortcuts to do the same as well. Just press the Command + Control + F keys at the same time to exit the full-screen mode and get back the toolbar on your Mac.

Jan 14, 2018  With the world’s school kids going back to school after the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of apps for Mac using students for the new school year. Many of the apps listed are ones I have listed before in my 15 Mac Based Apps That Help Writing Productivity article. Jul 04, 2020  The best Mac apps for 2020 By Mark Coppock July 4, 2020 If you’ve heard the phrase, “Once you go Mac, you never go back,” you know it holds true.

Problem 5: Mac Dock Disappeared

As you know, the dock is the inbuilt feature of Mac that allows us to access all the vital apps and settings quickly. Ideally, you can customize your Mac’s dock as per your needs. Sometimes, while customizing, users end up hiding the dock by mistake. Also, a sudden change in your OS can cause this problem. When my dock disappeared on my Mac, I followed these steps and it quickly solved the problem.

1. Use System Preferences to Hide or Show the Dock

The easiest way to fix Mac dock disappeared is by visiting the System Preferences on your Mac and changing the dock settings.

1. Firstly, go to the Apple logo on the top and click on the “System Preferences” button.
2. From the System Preferences window, you can open the “Dock” settings.
3. Here, you can see an option for “Automatically hide and show the Dock”. Make sure that the feature is disabled (unchecked) so that the dock will stay visible all the time.

2. Use the Keyboard to Show or Hide the Dock

As you know, Mac has a setting to automatically hide the dock and it will only be visible when we hover the mouse over it. If you still can’t access the dock, then follow this quick drill to fix the Mac dock disappeared issue.

Box Drive Folder Disappears

1. Move the mouse arrow over the dock to view it or simply press the Option + D keys at the same time.
2. Once the dock is visible, right-click it to get its context menu.
3. From here, click on the “Turn Hiding Off” option, which will make the dock static and visible permanently.

After reading this post, you would be able to resolve queries related to the toolbar on Mac disappeared or Mac dock disappeared. From getting back the missing dock to desktop icons, we have listed solutions for every common issue. If the Mac folder icons are missing on the desktop, then consider using Recoverit Data Recovery to get them back. If you have accidentally deleted some files, you would be able to retrieve them using this reliable data recovery tool. You can also download it for free on your Mac and use it at the time of need to recover missing files and folders without any trouble.

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