iCloud not syncing on your Mac: unstick it and free space

Steps

1. 01

   Rule out iCloud itself before you touch anything

   • Open apple.com/support/systemstatus and find the iCloud Drive row — it is listed as its own service — then check it reports no outage

   Why?

   A service-side outage looks exactly like a broken Mac from here. Thirty seconds of checking saves you an hour of resetting things that were never wrong.

2. 02

   Check this Mac is actually set to sync

   • Apple menu›System Settings›your name at the top›iCloud›iCloud Drive, and make sure 'Sync this Mac' is on
   • On macOS 13 to 13.2 the same setting is reached with Turn On, then Options, rather than a single switch
   • If you rely on Desktop and Documents syncing, check that option is on in the same place
   • macOS 12 (Monterey) and 11:Apple menu›System Preferences›Apple ID›iCloud in the sidebar, tick iCloud Drive, then Options for Desktop & Documents Folders
   • macOS 10.14 and earlier:Apple menu›System Preferences›iCloud

   ✓You should see: 'Sync this Mac' is on, and iCloud Drive appears in the Finder sidebar.

   !Careful: If another cloud service also syncs your Desktop or Documents folder, turn that one off. Apple is explicit that a second syncing app interferes with iCloud Drive updating those folders.

3. 03

   Read the real status in Finder instead of guessing

   • Finder›iCloud Drive in the sidebar,then View›as List
   • View›Show View Options, and tick 'iCloud Status' to add the column
   • Read the status per file: 'Waiting to Upload' means it is not in iCloud yet; 'Out of Space' means your iCloud storage is full; 'Ineligible' means the file could not be stored, typically because it is over the 50 GB per-file limit
   • A pie-chart icon is a transfer in progress — it fills as the file moves

   ✓You should see: Every file you expected to sync reads 'Downloaded' or 'In iCloud' rather than sitting on 'Waiting to Upload'.

   Why?

   This column is the difference between a sync that is slow and a sync that has genuinely stopped. A pie chart that hasn't moved in an hour is a real stall; one creeping along is just a big upload.

4. 04

   If the status says Out of Space, find what is filling it

   • Apple menu›System Settings›your name›iCloud›Manage
   • Click Backups: select a device whose backup you no longer need — an old iPhone you no longer own is the usual surprise — then click the remove button (−)
   • Photos, and Messages attachments, are the other two that quietly fill a 5 GB free plan

   ✓You should see: The storage bar leaves visible free space, and files that read 'Out of Space' start uploading.

   !Careful: Deleting a device backup is permanent. Make sure the device is gone, or already backed up elsewhere, before you remove its backup.

   Also see: Set up Time Machine properly

5. 05

   Last resort: sign out and back in to restart the sync

   • Apple menu›System Settings›your name›scroll down›Sign Out
   • When asked, tick the boxes for the data you want kept on this Mac, then click 'Keep a Copy'
   • Sign back in and give it time to reconcile before judging whether it worked

   !Careful: Choose 'Keep a Copy'. If you don't, documents and data that exist only in iCloud are removed from this Mac when you sign out.

   Why?

   Copies you keep are a snapshot: while you're signed out, iCloud stops keeping them up to date with your other devices.