I Accidentally MOVED files to iCloud

[DotCom2]

YIKES!
I accidentally moved ALL my files from my Documents folder to iCloud! All I really wanted to do was just COPY them to iCloud not move them!
How do I get them back on my local drive?

 

[MC6800]

If by "moved" you mean you've enabled iCloud syncing of Desktop & Documents, you can uncheck that option and then copy them back from the iCloud drive using the usual drag method.

 

[DotCom2]

If by "moved" you mean you've enabled iCloud syncing of Desktop & Documents, you can uncheck that option and then copy them back from the iCloud drive using the usual drag method.

[doublepost=1495829433][/doublepost]Thanks for the reply but no, I didn't enable iCloud syncing.
Now what do I do?

 

[Stefan johansson]

Just download them from iCloud. Open doc,choose save,and folder,wait for download,done.

 

[MC6800]

[doublepost=1495829433][/doublepost]
Thanks for the reply but no, I didn't enable iCloud syncing.
Now what do I do?

Ok... what did you do to move them?

 

[DotCom2]

Ok... what did you do to move them?

I did a Select All, then dragged them to the iCloud folder in Finder.
Now my local Documents Folder is empty.

 

[MC6800]

I did a Select All, then dragged them to the iCloud folder in Finder.
Now my local Documents Folder is empty.

They appear to have changed the default (copy vs move) at some point to match what Dropbox does. You can always force it to make a copy by holding Option while dragging, which works both going to and from iCloud. At least it does for me under El Capitan.

I'd suggest experimenting with a single file first.
[doublepost=1495862055][/doublepost]BTW, technically those moved files are still on your disk, just in a different (controlled) location:

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

But you don't need to (and shouldn't) mess with them there.

 

[Fishrrman]

Another reason why I don't mess with iCloud (have never even signed into it, in fact…) !

 

[DotCom2]

Well I got all my files back into the local Documents Folder now, but when I did the accidental "Move", it also moved my Parallels VM and now I can't get my VM back!
WHAT A $%)*#$)%* MESS!