OneDrive on MacOS not syncing uploads

Question

OneDrive on MacOS not syncing uploads

Titi 20

In the past few days, OneDrive on my Mac stopped uploading files moved to the OneDrive folder. OneDrive's status on the desktop menu bar show endless upload cycling with 0kb or 0kb uploading progress (see attached image). Got in touch with Apple support, when through many steps, deinstall/reinstall OneDrive, delete Library and Keychain system files, etc.... and still no go. Searching online, I am seeing the issue has been reported quite often, and found fixes ideas similar to what I tried with Apple support. Pausing and resuming sync sometimes work but only for a few minutes. I am at lost...

Screenshot 2026-09-24 at 2.27.11 PM

Chris-D 1,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-25T22:52:38.0333333+00:00

Hi Titi,

I’m reaching out to follow up on this issue. Have you had an opportunity to review the information I provided earlier? Any update from your side would be greatly appreciated.

If you have already tried the suggested options and the issue still persists, the best course of action would be to contact your IT department for further support.
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-09-26T02:11:26.35+00:00

Ha, ha. You are my IT Dpt....
Chris-D 1,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-27T19:22:22.31+00:00
Hi Titi,

Thank you for your response.

As this is a user-to-user community forum, I do not have access to your account, device, OneDrive diagnostic logs, or Microsoft’s internal support tools. I can only provide general troubleshooting guidance based on the information shared in this thread and my experience with similar cases.

If you are using a personal Microsoft account and do not have an IT department, you can contact Microsoft Support directly through this link: Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Enter OneDrive or a brief description of the issue in the box below “We’re here for you,” and then select Get Help.

Scroll down and select Contact Support.

Sign in with your personal Microsoft account and follow the prompts to contact an available support representative.

Since you have already completed the standard troubleshooting steps without success, Microsoft Support may need to investigate the issue further.

I hope this can be resolved for you soon.

4 answers

Your answer

Chris-D 1,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-25T22:52:38.0333333+00:00

Hi Titi,

I’m reaching out to follow up on this issue. Have you had an opportunity to review the information I provided earlier? Any update from your side would be greatly appreciated.

If you have already tried the suggested options and the issue still persists, the best course of action would be to contact your IT department for further support.
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-09-26T02:11:26.35+00:00

Ha, ha. You are my IT Dpt....
Chris-D 1,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-27T19:22:22.31+00:00

Hi Titi,

Thank you for your response.

As this is a user-to-user community forum, I do not have access to your account, device, OneDrive diagnostic logs, or Microsoft’s internal support tools. I can only provide general troubleshooting guidance based on the information shared in this thread and my experience with similar cases.

If you are using a personal Microsoft account and do not have an IT department, you can contact Microsoft Support directly through this link: Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Enter OneDrive or a brief description of the issue in the box below “We’re here for you,” and then select Get Help.

Scroll down and select Contact Support.

Sign in with your personal Microsoft account and follow the prompts to contact an available support representative.

Since you have already completed the standard troubleshooting steps without success, Microsoft Support may need to investigate the issue further.

I hope this can be resolved for you soon.

Answer 1

Christophe Blondel 0

Hello,

I am an IT and in our company already 3 users reported the same issue on MacOS. (Problem has started 2-3 weeks ago)
Tried to update MacOS to the latest version, tried to completely uninstall/reinstall OneDrive (tried 2 versions : Appstore/Microsoft website), cleared all OneDriver folder in Cache, permissions are fine too. Nothing can fix that.
I got a call from Microsoft today to investigate more and no solution provided yet.

The issue concerns all files OVER 4MB. Everything under 4MB works properly.
2 users are under a OneDrive Business Account, the 3rd one is using a OneDrive personal account.

Hope we can have a fix asap!

Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-09-29T20:33:31.74+00:00

Yep, same behavior on my end. My two MacOS computer showing the same issue. And yes, small files upload fine.
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-10-02T14:25:59.2733333+00:00

BTW, briefly pausing and restarting sync seems to be a good workaround until this bug is fixed.
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-10-02T19:55:11.34+00:00

And when it works, upload speed is very sluggish compared to what it used to be... Obviously, not a priority in MS support world.

Answer 2

Hi Titi,

Thank you for sharing the details of your situation and confirming that you have already tried the troubleshooting steps provided.

To help determine whether the issue is specific to the OneDrive desktop app or the affected files, please try the following:

Create a small test file, such as a TXT file with a simple name, and save it directly to the OneDrive folder.
Upload one of the affected files directly through the OneDrive website.
If the file is stored on an external drive, SD card, or in the Photos library, copy it to a local folder on your Mac first, and then move the copied file into OneDrive.
Confirm that your OneDrive storage is not full.

If the small test file also remains stuck at 0.0 KB of 0.0 KB, but files can be uploaded successfully through the OneDrive website, the issue is likely related to the OneDrive sync client on the Mac.

If you are using a work or school account, I recommend reaching out to your IT department and asking them to open a support ticket with Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. They have access to system-level diagnostics and can investigate the problem more thoroughly. At the very least, they can provide the most effective workaround to ensure your experience remains smooth and secure.  

In case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

I hope this helps clarify the expected impact and the safer options available. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to share them in the comment below. I'm very happy to help.

If the answer is helpful, please click 'Yes' and kindly upvote it.

Note: Please follow the steps in the forum documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 3

Titi 20

I tried all the above and still have the issue.

George Brown 0 Reputation points

2026-10-04T10:15:36.9233333+00:00

Just want to add to the pile, I also have this issue. I am running Mac OS X 26.6.2 on Tahoe on a M4 Pro Macbook Pro. I've tried a lot of things, even doing a full reset. I have over 800GB of free storage on my personal OneDrive. Pausing and resuming can resolve the issue for about 10-15 minutes and it will get into the same frozen cycle again. I do have a screen recording of it but even below 3MB it won't let me upload it here.

Scenario
Let's say 10 or so files have been updated recently. OneDrive, as intended, tries to sync these changes. Sometimes this will work however very often it will become stuck. By very often I mean this can happen every 15-30 minutes if it so desires.

It will go through the cycle below where it seems to attempt to sync (0.0KB isn't the size of the file, this is incorrect). It will then just jump between any number between the aforementioned 10 or file updated sync situation. So if 40 files were updated, it could show 'uploading 34 items' and then' uploading 38 items' and so forth on a random loop where it makes zero progress.

As you can see below my Onedrive hasn't updated for 24 minutes but is trying to. These files in this case had been updated over half an hour ago, thus proving the issue freezes Onedrive.

Additionally it's not like 1 file is causing the break. It will attempt to randomly upload any of the files.

Hope that information helps, I'm desperately looking for a solution rather than pausing and resuming every 15 minutes. I may just make an automation to do this.
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-10-04T14:47:56.86+00:00

Welcome to the club :(... Behavior you are describing is same to what is happening on my end. I have two different MacOS machines, one running 26.6.2 and the other on 27.0.1. I doubt the MacOS is at fault, I rather suspect a low level software update on either OneDrive servers or OneDrive app that causes the issue. I am surprised there are no more reports but OneDrive typically running in the background, there are probably many users who don't notice that their files fail or take a long time to update on the cloud.
George Brown 0 Reputation points

2026-10-04T14:57:12.06+00:00

Yep, so glad to see your post as validation that it wasn't just me (& the other commenters on here). So far I've not seen any colleagues with the issue but they're not the type to notice. I'm trying to manage a team with a Sharepoint & freelancers with ongoing collaboration through OneDrive so it's a frustrating bottleneck.

Honestly if I can set up some kind of Mac side macro which allows me to pause & subsequently resume OneDrive every 15 minutes then I can probably just work as normal. It would be nice to know if this was a known issue by OneDrive & a solution is to be worked on.

My Mac is brand new, the OneDrive install is also brand new. I talked to IT in my company & they suggested that OneDrive wasn't built for large files, which I disagree with. So I've come here, however this comment doesn't fill me with confidence that this will amount to much:

"As this is a user-to-user community forum, I do not have access to your account, device, OneDrive diagnostic logs, or Microsoft’s internal support tools. I can only provide general troubleshooting guidance based on the information shared in this thread and my experience with similar cases.

If you are using a personal Microsoft account and do not have an IT department, you can contact Microsoft Support directly through this link: Contact Us - Microsoft Support"
Titi 20 Reputation points

2026-10-04T15:26:46.45+00:00

MacOS macro idea to pause and restart syncing sounds like a great temporary fix. Let me know if you happen to make one!

Answer 4

The screenshot and symptoms match OneDrive being stuck on Processing changes / upload cycling on macOS.

Since reinstalling and deleting cache/keychain items were already tried, use this sequence:

Check whether the files are actually open or recently added in bulk OneDrive can stay on Processing changes for a long time if:
- a OneDrive file is open
- many files were added
- a very large file was added
- OneDrive is not signed in
- the Mac was just updated or OneDrive was just signed in
Pause and resume sync once more as a controlled test
- Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the menu bar.
- Open Help & Settings.
- Select Pause syncing.
- Wait briefly, then select Resume syncing.
Move one affected file out of the OneDrive folder, then back This is a documented workaround for long-running processing states:
- Open OneDrive settings from the menu bar icon.
- Select Pause syncing.
- Move one stuck file out of the OneDrive sync folder to a folder that is not part of OneDrive.
- Resume syncing.
- After sync completes, move the file back into OneDrive.
Unlink and relink the Mac to OneDrive
- Click the OneDrive cloud icon in the menu bar.
- Go to Help & Settings > Preferences.
- Open the Account tab.
- Select Unlink this Mac.
- Start OneDrive again from Spotlight.
- Sign in again.
- When prompted that the folder already exists, select Use this folder.
This does not delete files; it temporarily disconnects the local folder and resyncs after relinking.
Clear cached OneDrive credentials on Mac If stale sign-in data is still involved:
- Open Keychain Access from Spotlight.
- Search for OneDrive.
- Delete OneDrive Cached Credential.
- Start OneDrive again and sign in.
Confirm the Mac client is the current version Update to the latest OneDrive version. Microsoft notes that keeping macOS and OneDrive updated can help sync problems.
If Desktop/Documents backup is involved, verify Full Disk Access and app type For Desktop and Documents backup on macOS, OneDrive requires:
- the standalone sync app, not the Mac App Store version
- Full Disk Access enabled for OneDrive in System Preferences > Security & Privacy Preferences > Privacy
If the issue still persists, reset OneDrive Microsoft states that resetting OneDrive can resolve sync issues and that files are not lost, but it disconnects existing sync connections and performs a full sync afterward.

If uploads still stall after unlink/relink, clearing the cached credential, updating, and resetting, the next step for a work or school account is to contact the organization’s IT helpdesk or admin.