This is a known iCloud Drive sync corruption issue. What you are seeing are “ghost” placeholder files—file names that exist only in the iPad’s local iCloud index. The actual Canon CR3 files do not exist on iCloud’s servers, which is why they show as 0 KB, cannot be opened, cannot be deleted, and do not appear on iCloud.com. Unfortunately, once this occurs, the Files app on iPad is unable to clear them on its own.
This issue typically happens when iCloud Drive begins uploading large files, such as RAW camera images, and the process is interrupted or fails. iCloud never completes storing the files, but the iPad retains stale metadata entries. These entries persist indefinitely unless the iCloud Drive index is forced to rebuild. This is a known Apple-side sync problem and is not caused by user error.
The first fix to try is forcing iCloud Drive to re-index on the iPad. Go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud, turn iCloud Drive off, and choose Remove from iPad when prompted. Restart the iPad, then return to the same menu and turn iCloud Drive back on. Leave the iPad connected to Wi-Fi and power for at least 15–30 minutes so iCloud can fully resync and rebuild its metadata. In many cases, this alone removes the ghost files.
If the files remain, the next step is to sign out of iCloud entirely. Open Settings → [your name], select Sign Out, and choose to keep a copy of your data when prompted. Restart the iPad, then sign back into iCloud and re-enable iCloud Drive. This forces a deeper reset of all iCloud indexes, not just iCloud Drive, and often clears undeletable placeholders.
If you have access to a Mac, this is often the most reliable solution. Sign into the same Apple ID on the Mac and enable iCloud Drive. Open Finder → iCloud Drive and allow it time to fully sync. Finder is sometimes able to see and remove placeholder files that the iPad Files app cannot. Delete the affected CR3 files from Finder, empty the Trash, and then restart the iPad to allow the changes to propagate.
Several commonly attempted actions will not resolve this issue. Deleting the files in the Files app, using Select All → Delete, checking iCloud.com, restarting the iPad alone, updating iPadOS, or simply waiting will not remove these ghost entries once they appear.
If none of the above steps work, the issue requires Apple Support intervention. You will need to contact Apple Support and request escalation to Tier-2 support. Explain that you have undeletable 0 KB placeholder files in iCloud Drive that do not appear on iCloud.com and that this is an iCloud metadata corruption issue. Ask for an iCloud Drive backend metadata reset or Drive index rebuild. Only Apple can perform this server-side fix.
Finally, it is important to know that these files do not consume iCloud storage and are not recoverable photos. Removing them will not delete any real images. They are purely broken metadata entries. If you want more tailored guidance, note your iPadOS version, whether you have access to a Mac, and whether the issue began after importing photos from a Canon camera.
