Documents - two different locations / sizes ?

[dadders6]

Why does one Documents folder show 16.2 GIG, while the 'regular' folder shows 309 MEG? (Catalina)

 

[cdcastillo]

The disk has about 16 Gb of document files (different from system files and apps).

Those documents are scattered around in different folders: in a folder called desktop you have around 11.5 Gb, in another folder called Pictures you have 3 Gb, in the folder called movies you have around 0.65 Gb, and in a folder called documents you have around 0.3 Gb.

Did I help to clarify the situation? The fact that a particular folder is called "documents" does not mean it is the only folder with documents on it.

 

[dadders6]

I'm still confused, but it's mostly 'why does apple do it that way" confusion. In my mind, a document is exactly that, a document, like an RTF, word doc etc. The large 'document' area in that screen shot contains everything EXCEPT documents: Videos, music files and Photos etc.

 

[cdcastillo]

I'm still confused, but it's mostly 'why does apple do it that way" confusion. In my mind, a document is exactly that, a document, like an RTF, word doc etc. The large 'document' area in that screen shot contains everything EXCEPT documents: Videos, music files and Photos etc.

Both my father and I are called Carlos. However, I can testify we are indeed 2 different individuals. We share the name, but we are different people. It's just the same with your problem. I get it can be confusing, but they are 2 different things and are not the same. There is nothing wrong with the way your computer accounts for space and files.

BTW, you can also have files named "file".