Syncing never ends

Question

I have been syncing to the cloud for a couple months. Does syncing ever stop? Does it ever sync everything and then stop or pause. I pause it for 2 hours when I am working and then let it go until I need to pause it again. I am syncing over 100K songs and albums. I would think that after syncing for a couple months it would stop?

Answer 1

Yes—OneDrive sync does stop when it catches up. It does not run forever at full speed unless there are still changes to process, a very large number of files, or it is stuck processing.

With over 100,000 songs and albums, long sync times are expected. Microsoft notes that:

• If OneDrive has more than 300,000 files, sync can take a long time.
• If SharePoint sync has more than 100,000 files, sync can take a long time.
• If OneDrive shows “Processing changes” for a long time, pausing and resuming can help.

What to check:

1. Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar.
2. Check whether it says Up to date, Paused, or Processing changes.
3. If it is stuck processing, use Pause syncing for 2, 8, or 24 hours, then Resume syncing.
4. In File Explorer, right-click the OneDrive folder and select Properties to see the Contains count.

What this means for the current case:

• If the file count is extremely high, especially near or above 300,000 files, months of syncing can happen.
• If the status eventually changes to Up to date, syncing has finished and OneDrive will only sync new or changed files after that.
• If it keeps showing Processing changes without reaching Up to date, pausing and resuming is a supported troubleshooting step.

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References:

• How to Pause and Resume OneDrive Sync
• Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint
• Fix SharePoint Online sync problems