Files Disappeared from Desktop After Installing After Effects

[andreaa10854625]

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to see if anyone has experienced something similar or can offer any insights. After installing After Effects via Creative Cloud, I noticed that several files and folders from my desktop completely disappeared. This was extremely concerning, and I immediately started troubleshooting.

I contacted both Apple and Adobe support to get to the bottom of the issue. Apple was helpful in ruling out any system-level problems, but unfortunately, Adobe’s support team didn’t provide any useful guidance. They seemed dismissive of the issue and didn’t explain how the installation process or Creative Cloud’s syncing features might have triggered the removal of files from my desktop.

I’m particularly concerned about how Creative Cloud might have linked to my desktop during the install process, potentially syncing or overriding files, leading to this data loss. Has anyone else encountered files disappearing after an Adobe product installation, or had issues with desktop syncing through Creative Cloud? And if so, were you able to recover your missing files?

Any help or suggestions on how to prevent this from happening again—and ideally, how to retrieve my files—would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Ben M]

By default, applications do not have access to your desktop unless you grant permissions. If you go to your System Settings --> Privacy and Security --> Files and Folders you can control where apps have access to such as Desktop/Downloads. It is unlikely though that the Adobe installer would remove files during the After Effects installation process as the default installation folder is the Applications folder.

Do you have a time machine backup of your files that you could restore your desktop? If so, I would recommend going down that route. If you don't I would recommend getting a backup drive to utilize Time Machine. 

[kglad]

there's nothing the install of a cc app would do to affect saved files.

[Nancy OShea]

You're probably not seeing recent files in your newly installed software because, as yet, there is no history of recently opened files. The physical files didn't disappear.  Only the history of the filenames disappeared.

• Use Mac Finder to search for files on your Mac HD.
• Look in your Creative Cloud folder for files you saved online.
  https://assets.adobe.com

As other people said, installing genuine Adobe software DOES NOT remove saved files from your hard drive.   However, if your computer is infected with malware (viruses/trojans), things might disappear.  Do you have up-to-date anti-virus & firewall protection?  You definitely should.