1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.

  2. Select System Preferences... from the dropdown menu.

    Opening System Preferences on Mac

  3. Click on iCloud in the Preferences window.

  4. Click on Options next to iCloud Drive.

    Opening iCloud on Mac

  5. Un-tick the box next to Desktop & Documents Folders.
  6. Click on Done in the bottom right corner of the window.

Restoring your files

Nothing is deleted from iCloud Drive, so your files are safe, but to restore these two folders and put them back the way they were, you have to download the Desktop and Documents folders from iCloud. This process can take some time depending on the number of files.

iCloud drive in macOS Sierra stores your Documents and Desktop folders

  1. Open a Finder window and select iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
  2. Open the iCloud Documents folder and press Command+A then Command+C to select and copy everything.
  3. Open the Documents folder on the Mac’s disk and press Ctrl+V to paste everything in. All the files and folders will then download.