How to cancel or stop sync in OneDrive

If uploads or downloads with the OneDrive website are taking too long, or you selected the wrong files, they can be cancelled. If you are using the OneDrive sync app and want to stop a file from syncing or backing up, you can pause the upload or download. You can also cancel uploads and downloads on mobile devices.

  1. On the top toolbar, select  OneDrive upload icon Uploading to show the Progress of each file.

  2. To cancel the entire upload, select OneDrive upload cancel icon at the top of the list.

    Tip: You can also cancel individual files from the upload.

  1. Go to the download area of your browser (at the bottom of the browser window).

  2. Select the downloading file options and choose Cancel.

    OneDrive cancel download dialog

If the sync is just at a bad time for you, you can schedule the sync to resume later.

Select the OneDrive icon on the taskbar and select ... More > Pause syncing > 2 hours.

Tip: The sync will resume automatically, but you can keep rescheduling so that the sync runs overnight.

If you don't want to sync all of your folders in OneDrive to your computer, you can specify which folders you'd like to sync.

Learn how to Choose which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer.

  1. Pause OneDrive.

  2. Delete it or move it out of your OneDrive folders.

    Tip: Files deleted from OneDrive.com go to your OneDrive recycle bin. Files deleted from your computer's OneDrive go to your computers Recycle Bin or Trash. 

  3. Select the OneDrive icon on the taskbar or menu bar and select Resume OneDrive resume icon

  1. Close OneDrive by right-clicking the OneDrive taskbar or menu bar icon.

  2. Restart OneDrive from the Windows Start menu or Mac Finder.

  3. Mark the file or folder as Free up space.

  4. If you made a mistake adding or uploading the file to OneDrive, you can delete it or move it out of your OneDrive folders.

When you use File Explorer to open a file marked as OneDrive online file icon Available when online, OneDrive will download it first. To stop this download follow these steps:

  1. Open OneDrive from the icon on the taskbar.

  2. Select the X next to the file currently downloading.

    File downloading in OneDrive

  1. Tap the X underneath the thumbnail of the file that's being uploaded.

  1. Open your Download Manager notifications.

  2. Tap Cancel by the file download you want to stop.

See also

Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive

How to Pause and Resume sync in OneDrive

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