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iCloud Drive not syncing locally

I started this Discussion because there are several started already with the exact same issue, so I’ve tried to find them all and post links to this Discussion, mainly because I have spent over 4.5hrs on the phone with Apple today still with no solution and this is my story.


It’s obvious from these other Discussions that there is a problem and Apple needs to fix this issue. Overall Yosemite is working fine excluding this one very big problem.


I have updated to all the latest software apps, iOS’s & OS’s.


My iCloud Drive is working fine on my iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air & on iCloud.com.


My iCloud Drive is not syncing locally on my iMac.


My iCloud Drive on my iMac simply shows an empty folder or broken folders/files. If you place an item in there it doesn’t show up anywhere else and none of the items that are showing up on my iCloud Drive on my iDevices & iCloud.com will show up locally on my iMac.


Occasionally I have seen a handful of either Pages, Numbers or Keynote folders with my files with an iCloud icon & a dead progress bar next to them in my local iCloud Drive folder, but none of these files are accessible via their respective local app counterparts, they just appear to be frozen in time.


While on the phone with Apple and talking with 3 different representatives (including 2 Senior Advisors) they had me do a whole gambit of things which I have listed below, but none of them did anything constructive. I was told that my issue would now be sent to Engineering and I would have a solution in 1-2 business days.


Below are all the things that were attempted & requested by Apple to perform in no particular order. After each request the local iCloud Drive folder was checked and nothing ever changed.


1. Zapped the PRAM

2. Booted into Safe Mode (Extensions off)

3. Rebooted cable modem.

4. Rebooted router.

5. Rebooted iMac dozens of times.

6. Tried hardwired & Wi-Fi connections.

7. USB tethered to iPhone using LTE.

8. Signed out of iCloud account & logged back in.

9. Disabled iCloud Drive & reenabled dozens of times.

10. Created another Admin account and switched users.

11. Waited 24hrs+ and still nothing in local iCloud Drive.

12. Reinstalled Yosemite.

13. Repaired Permissions.


I hope Apple or someone has a solution for this very soon because it’s impossible to work efficiently when you can’t use your Pages, Numbers nor Keynote apps to create or edit documents locally.


The only thing they offered, which I was already aware of, was that I could download my documents from the iCloud Drive via iCloud.com and work with them locally or work with them online at iCloud.com. I’d prefer to work locally using my shared documents, but that’s exactly what I can’t do.


Please share if there are other things you have attempted and/or if you have also called Apple in utter frustration and if they offered any solutions other than what I have listed.


I’m willing to try anything at this point, but my guess is that there will be an update very soon to address this and other problems.


Thank you,

-Doren

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10), 3.5GHz Intel Core i7, 32GB, 27"

Posted on Oct 19, 2014 8:09 PM

Reply
189 replies

Mar 14, 2015 3:23 PM in response to Robb Allan

Thanks Robb Allan, your steps fixed it for me though I had to use DiskUtil on the command line:

  • log out of iCloud, and let the system delete all my iCloud Drive files (there were none), Contacts, Calendars, etc.
  • restart into the Recovery Disk (command-R on reboot)
  • launch Terminal from the Utilities menu;
  • type "resetpassword", and wait for the GUI for the reset app to appear.
  • reset ACLs and permissions for my user account where indicated;
  • type "diskutil list" and looked up the identifier for my boot disk (mine was disk0s2, yours may be different)
  • type "diskutil repairpermissions <diskname>" substituting "disk0s2" in my case. Wait.
  • type "diskutil repairDisk <diskname>" substituting "disk0s2" in my case. Wait.
  • Quit terminal.
  • Restart Mac
  • login to iCloud


This did it for me.

Mar 20, 2015 1:44 PM in response to Doren_Sean_Michael

Yikes, this is happening to me on all my devices. Been talking to Apple off and on for the last few days and nothing yet. None of the solutions have worked in this or other threads. Impacting all my Macs and iOS devices. Basically, iCloud only works online at iCloud.com. My iPhone, iPad, Macs cannot access my documents via Keynote, Pages, Numbers.

Mar 22, 2015 12:41 PM in response to Doren_Sean_Michael

Yes, this is very frustrating. I updated a spreadsheet yesterday on my home mac. And, the update has not been reflected in iCloud. So, I have an outdated spreadsheet. I am going to travel the rest of this week. So, it's very frustrating.


Had to make a copy of the file. Then delete it from my local mac. I also removed the version in the cloud. Then, uploaded the copy I made though safari so I could have the latest version on my devices this week while I'm traveling. However, now it's not even updating on my devices. I can only get to it through the browser.


😟

Mar 22, 2015 1:31 PM in response to Doren_Sean_Michael

I am having the same Issue Too! Apple has to fix this it is very frustrating. I have tried mostly every thing in this thread and still having the same problem. it doesn't download or sync the files to iCloud drive.I tried it on another apple ID was working so maybe its an issue with some apple ID's idk! but i know that apple should address it soon!

iCloud Drive not syncing locally

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