The cloud badge in the Finder means one thing: this file is in your library, and there is no copy of it on this Mac at the moment. It is not missing, not corrupted and not half-uploaded.
How a file ends up cloud-only
- It was uploaded from another machine, or from the web app, and you have never opened it here.
- You used Remove Download on it, or on the folder containing it.
- It is in a folder that was never marked Keep Downloaded, which is the default for everything.
- macOS reclaimed the space. With Optimize Mac Storage on, the system can evict downloaded copies when the disk gets tight — pinned files are left alone.
What to do about it
Nothing, usually. Double-click and it downloads, then opens. Drag it into a DAW and the DAW waits the extra moment while it arrives.
Before a session where you cannot wait — a big project, a gig, a train — right-click the folder and choose Keep Downloaded. Everything inside comes down once and stays.
If the icon is spinning and never finishes
- Check the menu bar. Transfers pause on Low Power Mode and on networks macOS treats as metered; the menu says so when they are paused.
- Check the status page. If uploads and downloads are degraded, it will be listed there before you have to ask.
- Quit Prod Crate from the menu bar and open it again — a stuck transfer restarts from where it stopped.
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