If you’re a Mac user who relies on iCloud Drive for data syncing and cloud storage, you might appreciate knowing that you can enable an optional iCloud Status indicator in the Mac Finder.

The iCloud Status indicators in Finder can tell you if a file or folder is only in iCloud, on the local Mac, ineligible for iCloud, waiting to upload, transferring, and more. Note these iCloud Status indicators are different from progress indicators, though you can also check the progress of iCloud file uploads and downloads in Mac OS if desired.

How to Enable iCloud Status Indicator for Mac iCloud Folders

• Go to the Mac Finder

• Navigate to an iCloud Drive folder, or if you use iCloud Desktop and iCloud Documents to there *
• Switch the folder to List View (click the List view button, or go to View menu > As List)
• Pull down the “View” menu and choose “View Options”
• Check the box for “iCloud Status” to enable the iCloud Status indicator for the iCloud Drive folder

• Close out of View Options

Once the iCloud Status view option has been enabled, it will be visible as a column in List view. Like other sort columns, you can move it around as desired.

You can also right click on the file list headers and choose to toggle “iCloud Status” from there, which is quicker than going to View Options preference panel.

Note if you disabled iCloud Desktop and Documents folders on MacOS so that your desktop and documents aren’t uploading into iCloud, then this iCloud status indicator feature won’t be available for those directories, and instead will be limited to iCloud Drive. This is signified by the iCloud Status option being grayed out and unselectable.

With the iCloud Status indicators enabled, anytime you are copying files to iCloud Drive from Mac or moving files to iCloud from Mac OS you will see the indicator change for those files. Likewise if there is other activity within the iCloud folders, that will show with the iCloud status indicator as well.

If you frequently put data into iCloud Drive or an iCloud enabled Documents or Desktop folder, you might want to think about adding iCloud Drive to the Mac Dock for quick access. It can also be helpful to watch upload progress of files and folders that are transferring to iCloud from the Mac.