Where is the Documents folder in iCloud?

Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Markdown version

It is a folder inside iCloud Drive, and it appears there because a Mac setting called Desktop & Documents Folders put it there. On an iPhone, open the Files app, tap Browse, tap iCloud Drive under Locations, then tap Documents. On the Mac it sits in the Finder sidebar, and on the web it is under iCloud Drive at iCloud.com. If there is no Documents folder in iCloud Drive at all, our reading of Apple's page is that the setting is off and the files are still on the Mac itself.

Why the folder is in iCloud at all

Apple's article on the feature opens with what it does: "When you turn on Desktop & Documents Folders, your Desktop folder and Documents folder are stored in iCloud Drive. This lets you access the files from your Mac on all your devices." To switch it on, on the Mac: Apple menu, System Settings, your name, iCloud, Drive (or iCloud Drive), check that Sync this Mac is on, then "Turn on Desktop & Documents Folders" and click Done (Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive, Apple Support, read 14 October 2026). Apple's page describes only this switch as the way the two folders get into iCloud Drive, so if your Mac has never had it on, there is nothing of the Mac's to find there.

Two exceptions from the same page: iCloud Drive "won't upload" iMovie, Photos or Aperture libraries kept in those folders ("They're labeled as Ineligible in the Finder"), and if another cloud service already manages your Desktop and Documents folders, "you need to turn it off" before this one works.

Opening it on iPhone

Apple's steps for the phone: "Open the Files app", "Tap Browse", "Under Locations, tap iCloud Drive", then "Tap the Desktop folder or Documents folder" (the Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive page above). Make sure you are in the right location: Apple's guide to the Files app separates "On My iPhone", for "files saved locally on your device", from iCloud Drive, which holds the files "in iCloud Drive, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents" (Find files on your iPhone or iPad, Apple Support, read 14 October 2026). A Documents folder you made yourself under On My iPhone is a different folder from the Mac's. The wider map of the Files app is on where the Files folder is on iPhone.

Apple adds that new files arrive when a device is online: "Your files sync with iCloud each time your device connects to the internet", and how long that takes "might vary". A file saved on the Mac a minute ago may not be on the phone yet.

On the Mac and on iCloud.com

On a Mac with a recent system, Apple says the two folders are "in the Finder sidebar, under Favorites", each with "a cloud icon next to its name"; on older versions they sit in the iCloud section of the sidebar. On the web, sign in at iCloud.com, go to iCloud Drive and double-click Desktop or Documents. Apple notes that to edit a file there you download it and then upload it again, except for Pages, Numbers and Keynote files, which "save directly to iCloud Drive" (the Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive page above).

Before you delete or turn anything off

Deleting in this folder is not local. Apple: "When you delete a file on one device, it deletes on every device that you're signed in to with the same Apple Account." Deleted files stay in Recently Deleted, in the Files app or on iCloud.com, "for 30 days". If what you want is space on the phone, Apple's alternative is to touch and hold the file and choose Remove Download, which frees local storage "without deleting the file".

Turning the feature off does not empty iCloud either. Per the same page, "your files stay in iCloud Drive, and a new Desktop folder and Documents folder are created locally on your Mac in the home folder" (the Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive page above). So after switching it off, the older files are in iCloud Drive and new ones go to the Mac's fresh, empty folders. In our reading, that explains a Documents folder on the Mac that suddenly looks empty.