Why did my files disappear when cloud sync switched on?
They are nearly always still there. Sync clients move folders and replace file contents with placeholders — how to tell which happened and how to get everything local again.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 4 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Two things cause this. Either the client redirected your Desktop and Documents into its own folder, so the files moved rather than vanished — look inside the OneDrive or Drive folder. Or files-on-demand has replaced local contents with placeholders, so names show with a cloud icon and open only online. Right-click the folder and choose to always keep it on this device to pull everything back down. Check the service's web page too: if it is all there, nothing is lost.
This is one of the most alarming things a computer does and one of the least dangerous. The sync client has almost certainly changed where files live or how they are stored, not removed them. The point of the diagram is that a folder listing can look complete while most of it is not actually on the machine.
Safety
Step by step
- Look in the sync folder before anything else.In your user area you will find a folder named after the service. If your Desktop and Documents were redirected, your files are inside it — same names, same structure, new location. Nothing was lost; a shortcut moved.
- Look at the icons.A cloud outline means online-only: the name is local, the content is not. A green tick or a solid icon means present on the drive. A pair of circular arrows means it is transferring. Learning these three icons resolves most of these panics.
- Check the service's website.Sign in through a browser and look for the files. If they are there, you have a display and availability problem, not a data-loss problem, and you can proceed calmly.
- Make what you need locally available.Right-click the folder and choose the option to always keep it on this device. The client downloads the contents; a large folder can take hours. Watch the free space on your drive while it does.
- Understand why the placeholders exist.Files-on-demand lets a small laptop show a cloud account far larger than its own drive. It is a genuinely useful feature that becomes a problem in two situations: when you are offline, and when a backup program reads the placeholders and backs up nothing.
- Fix the backup consequence immediately.If your backup points at a folder full of placeholders, it has been backing up almost nothing. Set the folders you care about to always available, then run and verify the backup.
- Decide whether you want folder redirection at all.It is convenient if you accept it deliberately and confusing if it happened during setup without your noticing. It can be turned off, but move the files out of the sync folder yourself first, deliberately, and check both locations afterwards.
- Only then treat it as a deletion.If the web view genuinely does not show the files, check the service's deleted-items area, then your local recycle bin or trash. Both keep items for a published period. That is where an accidental delete-during-setup will be.
If it doesn't work
Desktop looks empty after installing the client
Cause: Desktop was redirected into the sync folder and the old desktop is now empty — Fix: Open the sync folder and look for a Desktop folder inside it. You can either accept the new location or turn redirection off in the client's backup or folder settings, which puts them back.
Files show but will not open offline
Cause: Online-only placeholders — Fix: Set them to always keep on this device while you have a connection, and do it before a trip rather than during one.
The drive filled up after making a folder always available
Cause: The cloud account is larger than the local drive — Fix: Be selective — mark only the folders you genuinely need locally, and leave archives online-only. This is the trade the feature exists to manage.
Files appear on one machine and not another
Cause: Selective sync excludes that folder on the second machine, or it has not finished the initial sync — Fix: Check the client's folder-selection settings on the machine that is missing them, and let the initial sync complete before judging.
Everything vanished from every device at once
Cause: A genuine deletion somewhere, propagated by sync — Fix: Go to the service's deleted-items area on the web and restore. Then find out which device did it — most services show the account and device that made a change.
Questions people ask
Is redirecting Desktop and Documents a good idea?
It is defensible — those folders are where unfiled work lives and it gets them into version history. The problem is that it is often switched on during a setup wizard people click through, so they lose track of where their files are. Deliberate is fine; accidental is the issue.
Does an online-only file still count as backed up?
It exists on the service, so it survives the machine dying. It is not, however, in your local backup, because there is nothing local to copy. Do not let it satisfy your local backup requirement.
Can I have some folders local and some online-only?
Yes, and that is the sensible configuration: current work and anything irreplaceable kept local, old archives online-only.