iCloud Drive stuck syncing for days; Finder opening and Trash operations hang on macOS 27.2
I’m using an Apple silicon MacBook Pro with iCloud Drive Desktop & Documents syncing enabled. For several days, iCloud has been stuck at “Uploading 2 items — 47 KB of 49 KB” with no visible progress.
Symptoms:
- Moving files from my Desktop to Trash in Finder hangs. Cancelling the operation can leave it stuck at “Stopping…”.
- Opening some files from the synced Desktop also hangs. For example, PowerPoint stays at “Processing…” for a long time; cancelling that dialog several times sometimes allows the presentation to open.
- Some files display “Waiting to Update,” although not every file has trouble opening.
The unusual part: Terminal commands such as cp and mv work immediately for the files I tested. If I copy an affected presentation to a folder outside iCloud, such as ~/Local-Recovery, opening the local copy gets past the prolonged “Processing…” delay immediately. I compared the original and local copy using SHA-256, and their file contents are identical.
I’ve already relaunched Finder, restarted the Mac many times, and updated from macOS 27.0.1 to 27.2. The problem persists.
I also collected diagnostic samples before the update. Finder worker threads were waiting in File Provider move/preflight operations, while brctl status reported “idle” and “caught-up” despite the stuck upload indicator. An earlier storage check showed approximately 23 GiB of local disk space available.
Has anyone experienced this combination of stalled iCloud syncing and Finder operations hanging while Terminal access still works? How can I restore normal syncing and file access while keeping Desktop & Documents syncing enabled and preserving any local changes that haven’t uploaded?