MacOS – Where did this Data folder come from

I looked at some of the saved search files in Finder's application bundle, and for example /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/MyLibraries/myDocuments.cannedSearch/search.savedSearch used a format like this for excluding directories:

<key>FXScopeArrayOfPaths</key>
<array>
  <string>~/</string>
  <string>-Library</string>
  <string>-Music/iTunes</string>
  <string>-Documents/Steam Content</string>
  <string>~/Library/Mobile Documents/</string>
  <string>-com~apple~Keynote</string>
  <string>-com~apple~Pages</string>
  <string>-com~apple~Numbers</string>
</array>

So you can exclude subfolders by adding strings that start with a minus character after a full path. Something like -~/Library doesn't seem to work.

You can edit savedSearch files by dropping them on a text editor. RawQueryDict:SearchScopes and FXScope:FXScopeArrayOfPaths seem to list the same paths by default, but just editing the second one appeared to exclude folders at least in Finder.

Do you remember some of the filenames?

Try to enable Spotlight to search documents, and use it to find the file you misplaced. You should be able to find it if it’s still inside your Documents folder.

Using Terminal

My last attempt would be using Terminal to list all the files containing your files content keywords. Run Terminal and enter command below (replace your file content with some of the unique keywords in your lost documents:

grep -R 'your file content' *

It should display all the file it can find on your User folder. If it still can’t find the files, they’re most likely gone forever.