iCloud Drive not completing sync of unknown item

Enabling iCloud status or the related column in Finder view might provide some clues.

BTW last week in the bushes with only iPhone Wi-Fi hotspot that iPhone failed to update its Files.app iCloud Drive contents. But now with the usual Wi-Fi also that iPhone has updated its Files.app iCloud Drive contents as expected.

Your post is very confusing.

• “BTW last week in the bushes with only iPhone Wi-Fi hotspot that iPhone failed to update its Files.app iCloud Drive contents.”
  • I guess “in the bushes” means you were away from a metropolitan area, or any good source of external Wi-Fi.
  • An iPhone hotspot is used to provide a Wi-Fi signal to other devices. It cannot possibly have a positive effect on the iPhone’s signal reception, and may well have a negative one, as its cellular data bandwidth is being used to generate signal for other devices.
• Your screenshot shows a bunch of files awaiting download. I don’t understand how that fits into your discussion.

sberman wrote:

Your post is very confusing.

Sorry for not being more clear.

That screenshot was just to illustrate that the original poster could try to check those "iCloud Status" icons' state to find out which that stubborn "1 item" in his post might be.

...yes, I was outside any other Wi-Fi and used iPhone hotspot to connect MacBook Air to its Wi-Fi. Then even very tiny iCloud Drive updates done on the MacBook failed to reach that iPhone's iCloud Drive and Files.app. I didn't then check whether those edits were reflected in the iCloud web interface. So not a very big deal and it was corrected when connecting the iPhone to a proper Wi-Fi later...

I guess I just had a similar issue where iCloud Drive did not properly update its status: As in your 1st post screenshot, a few "item" uploads were stalled. Finder's iCloud status icons did not respond as usual when opening files and Finder's ctrl-click commands like "Remove Download", "Download Now" were missing.

I first re-launched Finder but it did not help.

Then a regular reboot fixed all that (as a next troubleshooting I was prepared to do a safe boot).

sberman wrote:… Your screenshot shows a bunch of files awaiting download. I don’t understand how that fits into your discussion.

I think Matti might have been showing things you could do that might jog iCloud into syncing.

Using an iPhone with weak wifi or cellular service eats up battery energy. The iPhone won't use the battery or the bandwidth for syncing when those are weak. Syncing "in the Bushes" might kill the battery and leave a person stranded with a dead phone and no emergency service at all. I'm not sure, but the same may be true for using the phone as a HotSpot.

How is your Wi-Fi connection? Is it free of VPN and anti-virus? It should be.

Also be certain your Mac’s battery is well charged.

Does restarting the Mac help?