iCloud Strange iCloud sync issue

[donawalt]

Hi all, I wanted to see if anyone has any tips or can let me know if there's something going on I don't understand. I believe this problem has started with a recent update to Ventura, maybe in the last month or so.

I have 2 MacBook Pro's - an M1 Max (I'll call it "M1") and an M2 Max (I'll call it "M2"). M1 is a backup laptop for work stuff that I use infrequently. Both are currently on Ventura 13.4. I have both laptops set up to sync Desktop and Documents to iCloud.

So the way iCloud Sync works in Finder:

1. If I add a file to M1, it shows up pretty quickly on M2.

2. If I delete a file on M1, it deletes pretty quickly on M2.

3. But, if I either Add or Delete a file from M2, it will NOT show up on M1, even for weeks, unless I either Add or Delete a file on M1.

It's like M1 won't sync unless a file operation is done on it; while the M2 laptop will grab anything that's been done on the Intel laptop within seconds.

I even tried specifically bringing up Finder on Intel to see if that jumpstarts it. I also tried a tip I read, to stop the cloudd process under my username (not the root one), and it appears again in a minute or so but the behavior of the sync does not change.

I have restarted M1 several times. Other iCloud stuff syncs fine (Messages, Photos, etc.)

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[donawalt]

Fixed!

On M1, I turned off iCloud Drive. I then said Yes to remove everything from that laptop. I then responded to stop the uploading of its iCloud contents before it removed everything (I suspect it does that prior to file removal as a safety feature, but I saved time not doing it as my iCloud was properly sync'd).

I then turned iCloud Drive back on, everything came down, and from the best I can tell, all sync operations are working correctly going both ways!