Many Docs Suddenly Invisible After Sonoma Update

[jordii]

After updating Monterey to Sonoma, ~25% of my doc files in iCloud/Desktop and iCloud/Documents are hidden. After toggling visibility via Shift + Command + Period, the screenshot below is typical.

One interweb posting suggested turning off Desktop/Document iCloud synch. I don't have enough disk space to try this.

I can think of a number of next steps, all of them annoying. Any suggestions? Is there a reliable utility for finding/toggling invisible files in bulk (the ones I've tried have been crappy adware). Lord how I miss FileBuddy.

Note: there is an issue where files downloaded via Chrome browser are hidden. This is not that problem (and fwiw it's fixed by setting Chrome to not always ask for a download location).

 

[jordii]

Is this strange alias setup a clue?

 

[Bigwaff]

Howard Oakley has several great blog posts covering iCloud Drive and Sonoma. He also has some software utilities for managing and troubleshooting files in iCloud.

macOS Sonoma has changed iCloud Drive radically

The small stub files used as placeholders for files evicted to iCloud Drive have vanished. Could that be why some Macs had to download the whole contents of their iCloud Drive?

eclecticlight.co

 

[chrfr]

Is this strange alias setup a clue?

The aliases are normal, at least when you have documents and desktop sync enabled.

 

[Nick_P]

I have had this exact same problem for about a year now, and just figured out my missing files were hidden. I have been using iCloud for all of my files since it came out 15 or so years ago, across many computers. I currently have 2 Macs (M1 Studio, M2 Air), an iPhone, and iPad. The files all show properly on all devices except my M2 Air. Screenshot of a typical M2 Air finder folder below. Nasty nasty bug if you ask me. The first time since I bought my first Mac in 1996 that I had any file problems. Did anyone find a real solution?