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<blockquote data-quote="MacInWin" data-source="post: 1879118" data-attributes="member: 396914"><p>[USER=197051]@stefanmaine[/USER], check in System Preferences, then click on &quot;Apple ID&quot; on the top line and then look to see if either the &quot;Optimize Mac Storage&quot; box is checked, or on the iCloud Drive/Options, that &quot;Desktop &amp; Documents Folders&quot; is checked. If either of these is checked, DO NOT UNCHECK THEM, but let us know that they are checked and we can talk you through what needs to be done to recover your files. Basically, with those boxes (either of them) checked, your Desktop and Documents folders are stored in iCloud, so anything you put on the Desktop will be uploaded to the cloud and a link to it created. A link has the little arrow you mentioned, which is what makes me think it may be turned on. It is not sufficient just to uncheck the options, there are steps you need to take before you do that or you could lose everything on the Desktop or in the Documents folder. And no, this is not a feature of Big Sur, it's been around for a long time, ever since iCloud Drive was first created, but Big Sur defaults to using iCloud for storage unless when you installed it you told it not to do so.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="MacInWin, post: 1879118, member: 396914"] [USER=197051]@stefanmaine[/USER], check in System Preferences, then click on "Apple ID" on the top line and then look to see if either the "Optimize Mac Storage" box is checked, or on the iCloud Drive/Options, that "Desktop & Documents Folders" is checked. If either of these is checked, DO NOT UNCHECK THEM, but let us know that they are checked and we can talk you through what needs to be done to recover your files. Basically, with those boxes (either of them) checked, your Desktop and Documents folders are stored in iCloud, so anything you put on the Desktop will be uploaded to the cloud and a link to it created. A link has the little arrow you mentioned, which is what makes me think it may be turned on. It is not sufficient just to uncheck the options, there are steps you need to take before you do that or you could lose everything on the Desktop or in the Documents folder. And no, this is not a feature of Big Sur, it's been around for a long time, ever since iCloud Drive was first created, but Big Sur defaults to using iCloud for storage unless when you installed it you told it not to do so. [/QUOTE]

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