How to See Which Files Are Still Uploading to iCloud or Dropbox
You're about to close the lid, board a plane or turn off Wi‑Fi, and you just saved a few files into iCloud Drive or Dropbox. Are they in the cloud yet, or only on this Mac? Until a file has finished uploading, your other devices don't have it, and the Mac holds the only copy of that version.
The short answer: in the Finder, open iCloud Drive in List view and turn on the iCloud Status column (View › Show View Options): anything marked Waiting to Upload, or showing a pie chart that fills up, isn't in iCloud yet. For Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, look at the icons their apps add in the Finder and at their menu bar icon. In Folia Files, a small badge right after each name says the same thing in iCloud Drive and in the cloud folders of ~/Library/CloudStorage: waiting to upload, uploading, downloading, conflict or error.
In the Finder: the iCloud Status column
Apple documents a status column for iCloud Drive in the Finder's List view:
- Open a Finder window and click iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
- Choose View › as List (⌘2).
- Choose View › Show View Options (⌘J) and select iCloud Status.
- Read the icon next to each item.
The statuses that matter before you leave:
- Waiting to Upload: the item isn't stored in iCloud yet.
- A pie chart that fills up: a transfer in progress.
- Out of Space: your iCloud storage is full, so the item can't be stored.
- Ineligible: the item can't be stored in iCloud, usually because it's too large.
- In iCloud: the file is only in iCloud. It's safe there, but you need a connection to open it unless you download it first.
- No icon: the file is downloaded and matches the copy in iCloud.
The column isn't strictly needed: for most transfers, the same icon also appears next to the name. And the pie chart next to iCloud Drive in the sidebar shows the progress of everything at once, the quickest check before you close the lid.
Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive: their own icons
On current versions of macOS, these apps keep their folder in ~/Library/CloudStorage and show their sync state in the Finder themselves. For the Dropbox app that works this way, its help page on sync icons explains that a white cloud with a black outline means the file is uploading, a dotted cloud means it's waiting to upload or has a problem, and a cloud with an exclamation point means it can't sync.
For the whole account, the app's menu bar icon is the reference: when Dropbox's window says your files are up to date, nothing is left to send. Google Drive and OneDrive also show their sync progress from the menu bar.
In Folia Files: a badge right after the name
Those icons are drawn in the Finder; another file manager doesn't get them. Instead, Folia Files reads the sync state that macOS keeps for every cloud item, and shows it as a small badge right after the name. It does this in iCloud Drive (the apps' folders inside it included) and in every cloud folder of ~/Library/CloudStorage, the ones listed under Clouds in the sidebar: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box and others installed through their own app. Folia lists them as soon as their app is installed, and you work in them like in any folder: see Servers and clouds.
The badges:
- A grey cloud with an up arrow: waiting to upload. The item isn't in the cloud yet and isn't being sent, for example when there's no connection, the storage is full or syncing is paused.
- The same cloud in color (blue, unless you picked another color for your Mac): uploading to the cloud right now.
- A cloud with a down arrow: downloading.
- An orange cloud with an exclamation mark: a conflict, several versions of this item exist in the cloud.
- A red cloud with an exclamation mark: this item failed to sync. Hold the pointer over the badge: the tooltip adds the error message the cloud gave.
- A small, light cloud: available online only, downloaded when you open it.
- No badge: nothing to report.
Every badge has its meaning in words as a tooltip, and VoiceOver reads the same words.
Check a folder before you leave
- In the sidebar, under Clouds, click iCloud Drive or the folder of your Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive.
- Choose View › Detailed List (⌘3) or View › Tree (⌘4). The plain List (⌘2) shows the badges too.
- In the Tree view, unfold the folders where you saved files: Folia reads the state of each folder you unfold.
- Wait for the up arrows to go. There's nothing to refresh: while the folder is open in a pane, Folia reads the items in transit again every 2 seconds for the first minute, then every 10 seconds.
- A red or orange badge? Read its tooltip, then deal with it in the cloud's app or on its website before you go.
What the badges don't cover
- Icons, Columns and Gallery don't show them: switch to a list or the tree for the check.
- A folder's badge is the state macOS gives for that folder itself. To see the files inside, open the folder or unfold it.
- The first 1,000 items of a folder are read, no more: each badge is a question to the cloud's background process.
- Desktop and Documents in iCloud. If you sync them, these two folders stay at their usual place in your home folder. There, Folia shows the online‑only cloud but not the upload badges: check them in the Finder's iCloud Status column.
- It depends on the cloud's app. iCloud Drive fills in these states, and Google Drive for desktop reports at least which files are synced and which are online only. We haven't been able to check every app: if Dropbox, OneDrive or another one doesn't report a state, Folia shows nothing, and the app's menu bar icon has the last word.
Turn the badges on or off
They're on by default. Choose Folia Files › Settings… (⌘,), then Files and Network, and at the bottom, under Cloud: Show the state of cloud files after their names (online only, uploading, downloading, conflict).
"Online only" is not "not uploaded"
Don't mix up the two clouds. The small, light cloud without an arrow means the file is safely in the cloud and your Mac only keeps a placeholder, downloaded when you open it. An up arrow means the opposite: for now, the file is only on your Mac.
Before a trip, the files you'll need offline should be downloaded. Select them, Control-click and choose Download Now; once a file is safely in the cloud and you need the space back, Remove Download frees it and the file stays in the cloud. Both work on several items at once, folders included, with their progress in Operations. The Info module tells you where a file stands: its Cloud line says Online Only or Downloaded on this Mac, and for a cloud folder, On This Mac and Online Only give how much of it is on the Mac.
Before you close the lid
- No up arrow left in the folders you worked in, and no pie chart next to iCloud Drive in the Finder's sidebar.
- Dropbox's menu bar window says your files are up to date.
- No red or orange badge left unexplained.
- For a big upload, keep the Mac awake and online until it's done: How to Keep Your Mac From Sleeping During a Big Copy shows how.
