OneDrive is permanently stuck on “Looking for changes” on my Mac

Question

OneDrive is permanently stuck on “Looking for changes” on my Mac

Saeed Zolfaghary Pour 0

Hi,

My OneDrive is permanently stuck on “Looking for changes” on my Mac, and it never finishes syncing.

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

Unlinked and re-linked my OneDrive account

Quit and reinstalled OneDrive

Cleared the OneDrive cache

Removed related Windows Credentials/keychain entries and signed in again

Restarted the computer multiple times

The same account works perfectly on my Windows PC, so the issue seems specific to my Mac.

System info:

Device: [MacBook Pro M4]
OS: [26.1.0]
OneDrive version: [25.184]

1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Dear @Saeed Zolfaghary Pour

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum!

Based on your description, this "Looking for changes" in OneDrive has several reasons that may cause it:

Corrupted local sync cache or incomplete re-linking.
macOS keychain may conflict after credential changes.
File system permission issues on macOS (especially with new hardware like M4 Macs).

The fact that the same account works fine on Windows suggests the problem may be client-specific, not account-related.

Therefore, I have tried my best to research and found a suggestion that you may try:

1.You may re-download OneDrive and set it to on demand files only (as recommended).

2.Then you need to reset OneDrive. And to make sure that you won't lose any data by resetting or uninstalling OneDrive, please kindly follow these instructions: Reset OneDrive

This method was confirmed by other users in community; you may take a look to see:

https://dori-uw-1.kuma-moon.com/en-us/answers/questions/5167416/onedrive-stuck-on-looking-for-changes?forum=msoffice-all&referrer=answers

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254391634?answerId=258219618022&sortBy=rank#258219618022

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I hope this information can help you and please feel free to let me know your update in comment section. Wish you a nice day!

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TiNo-T 9,275 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-17T07:11:30.2733333+00:00

Dear @Saeed Zolfaghary Pour

It’s been a while, so I just wanted to check in and see how things are progressing with this issue.

Have you had a chance to review the responses provided?

Any updates you can share would be greatly appreciated.
TiNo-T 9,275 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-19T02:48:30.9766667+00:00

Dear @Saeed Zolfaghary Pour

I’m following up to check whether you’ve had an opportunity to review the response provided.

And if you found the answer helpful in any way, I kindly invite you to mark it as the Accepted Answer. Once marked, it will automatically be pinned to the top. Since many other users also search for information in this community, your valuable contribution will help them easily find the right channel and useful insights more quickly.

Thank you very much, and I wish you a great day.

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OneDrive is permanently stuck on “Looking for changes” on my Mac

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