Oct 05, 2017. Related: How to Show and Hide the Dock on Mac; Steps to Restore Missing Downloads Folder on Mac. Follow the steps below to Restore Missing Downloads Folders on Mac, in case you had accidentally or intentionally removed this useful Folder from the Dock on your Mac. Click on the Finder icon located in the extreme left corner of the Dock on.
Summary
There are times when your Mac desktop files or icons disappear all of a sudden. Sometimes, you may find everything on my desktop disappeared on Mac. This page guides you to turn the icons back on, restore icons missing on Mac immediately. Learn how to restore missing desktop files and icons on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac and other manual methods on your own.
When the desktop files and drive icons disappear on your Mac, stay calm. Accordingly, due to macOS or Mac OS X update, personal settings, and careless operations, you may find Mac desktop files and icons not sowing.
Follow through the two parts below to display your disappeared Mac desktop icons and restore the lost files with ease:
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Phrase 1. Display Missing iCons | Method 1. Use Finder.Full steps Method 2. Use Time Machine Backup.Full steps |
Phrase 2. Get Missing Files | Method 1. Use Mac Desktop File Recovery Software.Full steps Method 2. Use iCloud Backup.Full steps Method 3. Use Time Machine Backup.Full steps Method 4. Use Stacks.Full steps Method 5. Use Trash.Full steps |
Everything on My Mac Desktop Disappeared, Help
Don't worry if you are having a similar case as listed here, you can continue reading and find the right solution to make your Mac desktop icon showing and restore all missing files on your own.
Case 1 - Everything on my desktop disappeared on Mac computer, need help!
Uworld qbank download for mac. 'Hello, after saving a .xls file on my desktop, all my desktop files and folders disappeared! Impossible to find them, also my bin was empty too, nothing to find or delete. Also, I didn't do any back up in the past to restore. What's worse, some drive icons are also missing! Those files and folders are really important as they are work-related. What should I try? Please, urgent help is needed. Thanks!'
Case 2 - Mac desktop files not showing, seemed lost, after macOS update.
'Does someone know how to bring the lost desktop files back after macOS update? My desktop files not showing after macOS update, how do I do? Do I still have a chance to restore them?'
Why Did Everything on My Desktop Disappear on Mac?
At times you might notice that files and icons from your Mac desktop are missing or they have just disappeared. Here are the normal reasons:
- #1. macOS or Mac OS X update causes Mac desktop icons and items lost
- #2. Default settings of Finder that makes no icons and items appear on Mac desktop
- #3. Set files to hide on Mac
- #4. The false operation that delete items on Mac
It is really shocking especially for those who have stored important files, folders, and icons on the Mac desktop. However, before you assume that they are permanently gone from your Mac desktop, refer the following points to see if you can restore disappeared files and icons from the desktop.
Part 1. Show and Retrieve Missing Mac Icons
It is easy to find missing Windows icons. But when it comes to Mac, most people become confused. It's the Finder that controls the display of Mac desktop and all of its icons, including drive icons of storage devices.
Usually, when you install macOS or upgrade Mac OS X, it renders the desktop without the drive icons by default. Sometimes, misoperations cause desktop icons missing from the desktop.
Luckily, you can show the disappeared Mac desktop icons by using either of the following methods.
Method 1. Show Missing Mac iCons using Finder
By changing the Finder's default settings, you can effectively make the desktop display the missing icons again.
Step 1. Click on the desktop or open a Finder window.
Step 2. From the menu bar, select 'Finder Preferences'.
Step 3. In the Finder Preferences window that opens, click the 'General tab'.
You'll see a list of devices that can have their associated icon displayed on your desktop.
Step 4. Place a checkmark next to the items you wish to display on the desktop.
After this, close the Finder Preferences window. The selected items will display on the desktop again.
Method 2. Retrieve Disappeared Mac Desktop iCons from Times Machine Backup
Pre-condition: You have created a Time Machine backup of your Mac desktop before the icons and files missed.
When you lost desktop settings, you can also try to bring them back by running Time Machine backup recovery. It will bring you back to the date before Mac desktop icons disappearing.
Let's see how to retrieve the disappeared Mac desktop icons:
Step 1.Connect the external Time Machine backup disk to Mac. Enter 'Time Machine' from the Time Machine menu.
Step 2. Use the timeline or up and down arrow browse and select the backup point.
Step 3.Press 'Space' bar to preview and see whether it's the one you want.
Step 4.;Click 'Restore' to restore the selected file.
After this, you can view and check items like icons saved on your Mac desktop again, including the missing files.
Part 2. Recover Missing Desktop Files/Folders on Mac
There are several ways that can help to find the missing files from the Mac desktop. Check out the workable methods and follow to restore desktop files on Mac now. Citrix workspace 1903 mac download.
Note that the former method is presented, the more effective it will be.
Quick Fix. Check If the Desktop Files Are Hidden
Mac has a built-in application called Terminal. Using this application, you can search, delete, or modify files and folders. You can also use it to check if desktop files are hidden or missing.
Here are the steps: https://skyeystar.weebly.com/cannot-install-teamviewer-mac.html.
Step 1. Go to Mac terminal on Mac.
Step 2. Type defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true and press Return.
Step 3. Type killall Finder and hit Return.
This will close Mac Terminal and shows those hidden files on your Mac desktop. If this technique doesn't work, recover files from the empty Mac desktop with Mac desktop files recovery software.
Method 1. Restore Mac Desktop Files/Folders Using Mac Desktop File Recovery Software
Applies to: All levels of Mac users to restore missing Mac desktop files and folders.
Work on: Latest macOS 10.15.5 (Catalina)/10.15.4 and even older Mac OS X, like 10.9.
When your saved items lost on Mac desktop, professional Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac can scan the hard drive to scan and find disappeared files from Mac Desktop. It can smoothly restore disappeared files from Mac desktop without any difficulties.
Many users have used this application to recover 200+ files, Keynotes, Pages documents, AbiWord files, MS Office files, archive files, PDF documents from Mac desktop. Download this effective desktop file recovery software and get the desktop files back.
Moreover, if you only need to recover a few files less than 2GB, you may try the free version of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. It works exactly the same as the pro version.
Steps to Restore Missing/Lost Mac Desktop Files
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the Scan button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click Recover Now button to have them back.
After this, you can save the found files back to your Mac desktop and use them again.
Method 2. Restore Lost Mac Desktop Files via iCloud Backup
Applies to: iCloud users who have set up iCloud to Sync Mac files, restore missing Mac desktop files from iCloud backup.
Works on: All Mac computers with iCloud backup.
If you have synced Mac files to your iCloud, you can immediately bring the lost or missing desktop files like documents back via your iCloud account.
Here are the steps:
Step 1. Go to iCloud.com and sign in with your account and password.
Step 2. Click iCloud Settings and scroll to the bottom, click 'Restore Files' under the Advanced section.
Step 3. Tick the boxes of your lost files on Mac, and click 'Restore'.
Method 3. Restore Not Showing Mac Files via Time Machine Backup
Applies to: Restore lost Mac files via Time Machine backup.
Works on: All Mac computers.
Being similar to iCloud backup recovery, if you have created a backup of your Mac files to a Time Machine backup disk, you can also immediately bring them back on your Mac desktop.
For a detailed guide, you can revert to Method 2 in Part 1 for help.
Method 4. Use Stacks to Find Missing Desktop Files on Mac
Applies to: Re-organize and make Mac desktop files show up.
Works on: macOS Catalina, Mojave, etc.
If you are using the latest macOS on your computer, such as macOS Catalina, Mojave, you can use Stacks on your computer to automatically organize your desktop files by file type.
When you lose or missing files on the Mac desktop, try Stacks. It may surprise you.
Step 1. On Mac desktop, right-click an empty space to bring up the Context Menu.
Step 2. Uncheck 'Use Stacks'.
![Download Download](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126856277/761309839.jpg)
Step 3. Repeat Step 1 again, and check 'Use Stacks' this time.
After this, you may find the missing files back on your desktop again.
Method 5. Restore Missing Mac Desktop Files from Trash
Applies to: All levels of Mac users to bring deleted files saved on Mac desktop from Trash.
Works on: All macOS and Mac OS X platforms.
When you lost files on Mac desktop, you may mistakenly drag them into the Trash bin. Then you can try to find them in the Trash.
Here are the steps:
Best free gopro editing software mac. Step 1. Open Trash Bin on Mac desktop, find the files that you lost.
Step 2. Drag the files you want to recover back to the desktop.
Or you can right-click on the file and select 'Put Back'.
Conclusion
On this page, we explained why do the desktop icons and saved items disappeared on Mac, and also covered several practical methods to help you find and restore the missing icons on Mac desktop.
To make everything work fine on your Mac, you need first display Mac icons using methods in Part 1. Then you can apply file recovery tips such as to let EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac help and retrieve Mac desktop files.
After finishing all the operations, your jobs are done. You can use your Mac icons and files again.
May 12,2020 • Filed to: Mac Recovery • Proven solutions
“Yesterday when I came back home and checked my Mac, I found that everything on my Mac desktop disappeared. My Mac desktop icons disappeared, Mac Dock disappeared, and even the Mac toolbar disappeared, almost everything was gone. Now, its serious trouble for me as I was having many important files in the folders on desktop that disappeared. What should I do?”
One of a Mac user posted this query on our last article, and it was really necessary for us to provide a solution, as many of you might be suffering from the same, and it’s real trouble. But don’t worry, if everything on your Mac desktop disappeared, you just need to go through this article and follow on of the methods, and we can assure you that you will get your everything on Mac desktop back.
Part 1. Everything from My Mac’s Desktop Disappeared – Why?
Well, there can be multiple reasons behind everything disappearing from your desktop on Mac. Your Mac’s desktop contains quite a few important things such as your files and folders, icons for drives and apps, Dock, Toolbar, etc. Everything is enabled with a different set of features and permissions. A little mistake in allowing or denying the permissions, or toggling between some features may cause the disappearing of everything from your desktop on Mac.
It’s not a serious issue, they are recoverable, until and unless you know how to get them back. You can lose your files and folders that disappeared from the desktop on Mac if you exactly don’t know the right way to get them back.
Part 2. Dock Disappear from Mac – How to Bring Back Dock?
The dock is a very essential component of your Mac’s desktop, it’s similar to the taskbar on Windows. You can customize Dock in the way you prefer and can keep any app or folder there for easy access. But, in rare cases, due to some reasons, the dock might disappear from the desktop of your Mac. If it happens, just follow the method listed below, you will easily get your Dock back on the desktop.
Causes:
- Your Mac allows you to use the desktop in full-screen mode, and when it’s in full-screen mode, the dock hides when not in use.
- It’s possible that you might have mistakenly pressed some command keys, or might have changed some settings regarding the Dock, that cause the disappearing of Dock from the desktop on Mac.
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Method 1: Hide or Show the Dock with the Use of System Preference.
Step 1 When you are inside your Mac and find out that the Dock disappeared from Mac, go to “Apple Menu” and then to the “System Preference”.
Step 2 Once you are in System Preference, you will see the Dock icon, it should be in the first row of the window if you are on the current OS of Mac. If your OS is old, you might see a different UI under System Preference, and the Dock icon might be in the “Personal” section. Now, click on the Dock icon to enter.
Step 3 In the new window, you will see various options, look for “Automatically hide and show the dock”. If you enable the option, your Dock will automatically disappear when you are not using it and will reappear when you are using it. If you have the option disabled, your Dock will always remain visible.
Method 2: Hide or Show the Dock with the Use of Keyboard keys.
All you need to do is to simply use the shortcut command keys from your Mac keyboard. Press “Command Key + Option + D” simultaneously, this will work in the same way as the System Preference method did. If the Dock was hidden, using these keys will make it reappear instantly, and if it was there, it will be hidden.
Part 3. Toolbar Disappear from Mac – How to Bring Back Toolbar?
The toolbar is what we can also call Menu Bar, but it’s more functional. Toolbar on your Mac’s desktop is located at the topmost end of the Home Screen. It contains various options to let you reach places in your Mac and perform operations. In certain cases, you might end up with a desktop that lacks the toolbar, it might have disappeared or is hidden, but don’t worry, simply follow the method mentioned below, and get your toolbar back on Desktop.
Causes:
- Most of the times, it’s not actually disappeared, it’s just temporarily hidden because you have the full-screen mode enabled.
- You might have toggled some settings, that made it disappear temporarily. It’s either now not showing because of inactivity, or some other reason.
Methods 1: Show the Toolbar with the Use of System Preference.
Step 1 Once you are inside your Mac and see that your Toolbar on Mac disappeared or is hidden. Navigate to the “Apple Menu”, and through the Apple Menu, go to “System Preference”.
Step 2 https://practiceever349.weebly.com/always-pay-for-music-never-illegally-download.html. Once you are into System Preference, look for an icon named “General” and click on it to enter. In the new window, you will see various options, look for the option “Automatically hide and show the Menu Bar”.
Step 3 If the “Automatically hide and show the Menu Bar” option is enabled, that means your Menu bar will only appear when you take the cursor to it, otherwise, it will remain hidden. Uncheck the option to keep the Menu bar visible always or to unhide it.
Method 2: Exit Full-Screen Mode to Show the Toolbar.
When you are into your Mac, and it is in the full-screen mode, simply take your cursor to the top end of your Mac desktop, exactly the way you do it to show the Menu Bar. As soon the Menu Bar will appear, you will see a “Green” button in the upper left corner, this button is to exit the full-screen mode. Click on the Green button and exit the full-screen mode.
Part 4. Icons Disappeared from Desktop on Mac – How to Get the Disappeared Icons Back?
Your Mac has various icons on the desktop, some are of applications, some are shortcuts, and some are the icons of drives that are connected to your device right now. There are cases when the icons of connected drives disappear from Desktop on Mac, it’s not a big deal, but it needs to be corrected. Simply follow the method below and fix it.
Causes:
- The one simple reason behind it might be that the drives aren’t properly connected yet, and that’s why the icons are not showing on the dock, but we are not focusing on such errors.
- Another reason can be the Finder settings, as the responsibility of showing icons on your desktop is of Finder, so a little wrong toggle in settings may lead to disappearing of icons from the desktop,
- Another reason can be some permission errors causing the icons to not display properly.
Method 1: Adjust Finder Settings to Show the Disappeared Icons on Mac.
Step 1 Once you are on your Mac Desktop and find that the icons are gone, navigate to “Finder Preference” through “Finder Menu Bar”.
Step 2 Once you are into “Finder Preference”, navigate to the “General Tab” through the General button on the top shelf.
Step 3 Now in the General window, you will see the names of devices that can have their icon on your desktop while connected, that might be Hard Disks, CDs, External Servers, etc. Enable all these options to see their icon on your Desktop while they are connected.
Method 2: Fix Permission Errors to Show the Disappeared Icons on Mac.
Step 1 When you are on your desktop, click on an empty area to navigate to “Go > Utilities” menu.
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Step 2 Now, go to Disk Utilities, and choose your hard disk, it must be listed in the Sidebar. Now, you will see a “First Aid” tab, navigate to the First Aid tab and click on “Repair Disk Permission” option.
Step 3 The step 2 should do your work, but if you are not able to click on “Repair Disk Permission” then you might need to try “Verify Disk Permission” prior to it, and then head to “Repair Disk Permission”.
Part 5. Folders Disappeared from Mac’s Desktop – How to Bring Back?
It’s not very advisable to keep your files and folders on Mac Desktop, as it slows down your Mac and has a higher chance of losing your files due to the slightest of rendering error. But if someday you find your folders disappeared from Desktop on Mac, then it might not be that big of a risk, as those are easily recoverable.
- Most of the time the folders from your Mac disappears because of them being synced with your iCloud Drive. They might be resting there hiding from your Desktop.
- There might be other cases where you accidentally deleted your files and folders from Mac like permanently deleted. Those cases can only be resolved by performing recovery on Mac.
Methods 1: Try to Disable the iCloud Drive Sync.
Step 1 First of all, get to the desktop of your Mac. Now, you need to navigate to iClouds by first going to “Apple Menu” then to “System Preference”, and then to “iClouds”.
Step 2 Now, click the “Options” button in the first appearing iClouds window, it will take you to a new popup window. You will see various options like Desktop and Document folders, Preview, Text Edit, etc. You need to disable the “Desktop and Document Folders” option by unchecking the box in front of it. Lastly, click “Done”.
Step 3 Now, you can drag the folders and documents back to your desktop from the iCloud Drive. The program may warn you that “your files will no longer be available on iCloud”, that should be Ok for you, you will have them on desktop.
Method 2: Recover the Deleted Folders With Recoverit (IS) Tool for Mac.
Now, here comes the case in which you permanently deleted a file or folder from your Desktop and no regretting it. The delete might be accidental or intentional, but it resulted in permanent delete of your important data. None of the above-mentioned methods is of any use, in this case, you will be required to perform data recovery on Mac with the help of recovery software to get the disappeared folders from Desktop back.
We’ll recommend Recoverit (IS) tool for Mac to easily perform the recovery and get all of your deleted files back on Mac. The iSkysoft is one of the best recovery tools for Mac right now. What makes it best is the highest recovery rate, affordable price tag, and some great useful features.
Recoverit (IS) for Mac
Some of the Great and Useful Features:
- It can recover all types of files and data lost from your desktop, i.e. Audio, Video, Images, Documents, ZIP, etc.
- It comes with the highest recovery rate in the town, that means, you will be able to recover each and everything you ever lost.
- It has multiple recovery modes to help you with the recovery of files in every scenario.
- The program is made to recover your files in an easy three-step recovery process. Thus, it can be used by anyone and everyone.
- The program supports recovery from all kinds of devices and all kinds of OS. Thus, you can recover your lost files from any device.
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How to Recover lost Folders?
Preparations: To recover your files, go to https://toolbox.iskysoft.com/data-recovery-mac.html, and download and install the Mac-compatible version of the Recoverit (IS)y tool. Once installed, launch it to initiate the easy three-step recovery process.
Step 1 Once on the welcome window, you will be required to choose a Recovery mode from multiple listed modes, choose the one that suits your recovery needs.
Step 2 After choosing the Recovery mode, you will be directed to choose a drive from which your data is lost on Mac. Choose a drive you want to perform the recovery on from the various listed drives. Click “Scan”.
Step 3 The program will scan the selected dive, and will bring you a preview of all the recoverable lost files. Select the files you want to recover, and click “Recover”, choose a location to store files on Mac and click “Ok”.
Following this method will easily bring back your lost data on Mac from any scenarios.
Part 6. Download Folder on Mac Dock Disappeared – How to Get Back the Download Folder?
Oh! First, your Dock disappeared and now the Downloads folder from your Dock, not a good sign. Although it happens with many users, we have heard the complaints of folders going missing from the Dock. Don’t worry, it’s easy to bring them back.
Causes:
- The very first and the very common reason might be the accidental drag out of the folder from the Dock. Yes! It often happens, most of the users accidentally drags a folder out of the Dock, and it disappears.
- You might have re-customized your Mac, and that caused the Downloads folder to disappear from Dock. Or else, the Dock might be malfunctioning or behaving in a way it shouldn’t. It can be resolved by resetting the Dock to default.
Methods 1: Drag the Download Folder from Home Directory.
Step 1 Now, as the download folder had disappeared from Dock on your Mac, you need to go to the “Finder” from your desktop. Once you are into Finder, look for the “Go” menu on the menu bar and click on it for a drop-down menu. Click on “Home” in that menu.
Step 2 Once you are into the Home Directory, look out for the “Downloads” folder. Once you find the downloads folder, simply drag and drop it into the Dock on your Mac desktop. Try to drop it at the right side near the Faint line.
Method 2: Reset the Mac Dock to its Default.
Step 1 When you are on the home screen of your Mac, simply go to the Terminal via the shortcut key or by searching it through the Spotlight.
Step 2 Once you are into Terminal, you need to type the command “defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock”. Once you type the command, simply click “Run”. The Dock will reset to the default state automatically, now you can customize it as you want.
So, if everything disappears from Desktop on your Mac, you shouldn’t be worried. If your Dock disappears from Desktop on Mac, or files and folders disappear from Desktop on Mac, all of them can easily be brought back by following the above-mentioned methods. And if you accidentally delete folders from Mac, iSkysoft can always recover them for you.