How would a folder's contents be deleted

originale wrote:

The only way to delete them was to consciously do it.

That is not true. It is very easy to accidentally delete a file no matter how careful you may be. It has happened to me several times over the years and I'm very careful. Plus some apps or utilities may delete files without placing them into the Trash.

If you are using any anti-virus software, cleaning/optimizer apps, or third party security software, then they may have done something with your file(s).

Did you remember to check the Trash?

Also, I believe if iCloud is enabled, then your normal Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folder may no longer contain your files as they may be relocated to a special iCloud syncing folder within your macOS user account's hidden Library folder. I don't use iCloud for my files, so I cannot say for sure how this all works or exactly where these files would be located.

If you turned off iCloud, then there are a couple of options that can be selected that can determine what happens to the data that was previously being synced to iCloud.

Only backed up to iCloud and it mirrors the lPtop

of course.

iCloud is not a backup option for macOS. Only iPhones & iPads have an iCloud backup option.

iCloud is a file syncing service that allows you to access shared files with any device connected with your AppleID. If you make a catastrophic file edit or deletion on one device, then that same catastrophic edit/deletion occurs to that file on all your other devices using iCloud.

You can see if your documents can be recovered from iCloud using the information in the following Apple article:

Recover deleted files on iCloud.com - Apple Support

I used to backup to a thumb drive

That is not a very good option since the quality of USB sticks is extremely poor. Plus many USB sticks tend to silently introduce bit errors over time as well and are much easier to lose than an actually external hard drive or SSD.

and Apple said not necessary with the cloud. Shouldn’t have listened

Unfortunately Apple support agents don't always fully understand users' needs or even Apple's own products & services. Apple promotes a lot of things making people think things work one way when in reality they work completely differently. I've seen a lot of discussions on this forum among very knowledgeable forum contributors regarding the behavior of iCloud and other services since Apple's documentation is sometimes very limited on details and sometimes even misleading & confusing.

People should always have frequent and regular backups of their computers and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. Apple includes Time Machine backup software with macOS to make this easy for users, but there are also third party backup software & services as well.

Well, Apple support was correct in the sense that files don't delete themselves - so if you didn't delete them (and it is entire possible to delete multiple files at once) then someone or some program did. Have you been running any "maintenance" software to free up space or something like that?

Really though, the most important question - especially if you know the files were there a couple of months ago because you were using them - is did you have a backup system in place? If so, you should be using it to recover the files ASAP.

I actually thought of something else as I read your latest post. Perhaps the files are still there, but are hidden. I have seen a few posts on this forum where some people have encountered this issue. With a Finder window open, press Shift + Command + Period/Dot which will toggle the ability to see hidden files on & off. Most of your folders won't contain any hidden items so you may not see any difference when you use the keys to toggle on the ability to view hidden files. If you have your home user folder selected, then you will be able to see the hidden Library folder appear & disappear.

Once you toggle the hidden file view on, then it applies to all folders you navigate to within the Finder until you toggle it off.

If you're certain that you or an app hasn't deleted them then it's possible that you've dragged the folder somewhere else when being a bit careless with a mouse or trackpad. I know I've done this on more than one occasion with a file or a folder - it's easily done. What I recommend is to get a decent search app. Spotlight doesn't search everywhere and everything so if you've only searched for the folder using Spotlight it's possible that the folder is hiding on your disc somewhere. I use easyfind but others are available and I have no affiliation. If you know the name of the folder or any of the files on it and it's on your hard disc then easyfind will find it.