Latex and pdf files disappearing from MacBook

[seeker101]

Forgive me for nontechnical language. I am a new user of MacBook Air, chip M1, macOS Sonoma 14.5.
Inside Documents, I have a folder by the name Texfiles that contains many subfolders each for a presentation (prepared in latex).
Now, surprisingly, I noticed that in many of these subfolders, the .tex and .pdf files have "disappeared"! In fact, this morning, when I opened an important presentation, I could see the .tex and .pdf files for a very short time and then they disappeared.
I check the bin but could not find them there. Now I have no idea how to get these files back.

 

[LinMac]

That sound weird. Can you see them in Terminal using the ls command?

 

[gilby101]

Do you use iCloud to store your Documents folder**? And were you connected to the Internet when opening the presentation?

** System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Are "Sync this Mac" and "Desktop & Documents Folders" enabled?

 

[seeker101]

Thanks LinMac and gilby101.
@LinMac, I cannot find them in Terminal.
@gilby101, I do not use iCloud to store Documents folder.

 

[HDFan]

I cannot find them in Terminal.

You cd to the directory and an ls -l doesn't show anything?

What happens if you do a system wide search in finder (command f) for files with the appropriate extensions?

Do you have backups?

 

[adrianlondon]

Just to make sure ... you've used LaTeX before with tools such as MikTex?

I ask, because these can be configured to remove the PDF files etc. during the prebuild process.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Try this.
A simple solution and it will cost you nothing.

First, download "EasyFind" from here:

DEVONtechnologies | Needful Things

A little collection of free utilities for the Mac to make your life easier.

www.devontechnologies.com

It's small and it's free.

Open EasyFind.
On the left, I set it up this way:
Search for:
files and folders

Operator
phrase

Comparison
ignore case

Include
invisible files & folders

In the search bar, enter ".pdf"

There is a popup menu on the right showing WHERE the search will take place. I'm going to GUESS that by default it shows your internal drive. I'd leave it that way.

Finally, on the right, click the "magnifying glass icon" to start the search.

What results do you get?

I tried a "test search" on my own Mac, and doing the above found LOTS of files ending in ".pdf".

If you find them, click ONE TIME on a file in the list that EasyFind presents.
With the file selected, type "Command-R" to reveal its location in the finder.

If this works for you, please let us know.

 

[benwiggy]

Now I have no idea how to get these files back.

I'm guessing this means "I don't have a backup"... ?

 

[seeker101]

You cd to the directory and an ls -l doesn't show anything?

What happens if you do a system wide search in finder (command f) for files with the appropriate extensions?

Do you have backups?

Thanks @HDFan. Yes, searching the folder via cd and ls doesn't show the missing files.

 

[LinMac]

You're going to want to be sure you cd (change directory) into the correct location for those files. Next, you'll want to ls -la (list all) on the files there. This is a very low level/raw way to look at your files. If it doesn't show here, the files are gone.

You'll need to proceed with backup restoration. If you don't have backups, you can try file recovery, but that's a very very complicated task that costs a lot of money from professionals or involves highly specialized tools that aren't very automatic.

Before you do anything else, make sure you were in the correct directory. You might be making an easy mistake. If not, check your backups.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Would you try what I suggested in reply 7 above?

 

[Slartibart]

Inside Documents, I have a folder by the name Texfiles that contains many subfolders each for a presentation (prepared in latex).

Just to understand this correctly: “Documents” is a folder? If yes, where is located? (one way to see that is to open a terminal, type cd followed by a space and then drag the ”Documents” folder on the terminal window and press return. After that, type pwd and press return and you see the full path.)