the sims 4, my save files got deleted after an update

@elias57b  Just to be clear, the game will only read data in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, not in a folder on your desktop.  So that's the place to look for saves, and that's also where you'd move any saves you found elsewhere so the game would load them again.

Please look for any Sims 4 data in OneDrive's Documents folder, that is if you use OneDrive.  If you find any saves or other files, you can move them back to the appropriate folders within the local (as in, on your computer) version of Documents.

If you don't use OneDrive or don't find any files there, try searching your computer for stray saves.  Open a File Explorer window, click This PC in the left panel, and enter Slot_ in the search field in the upper-right corner.  If the search finds any saves, click on one and click "Open file location" in the menu bar, and you'll jump to wherever your saves are.  Here again, you can move the saves and other content you find to the appropriate folders within Documents.