What is fileproviderd on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Connects Finder with cloud storage like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.
fileproviderd coordinates File Provider extensions, the modern way cloud storage apps plug into Finder. iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and others use it to show cloud files, download them on demand and keep them in sync. High activity usually means one of those services is syncing many files.
- Category
- Apple service
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as fileproviderd
Why is fileproviderd using so much CPU or memory?
- A cloud storage app syncing or indexing lots of files
- Several cloud services installed at once
- Spotlight indexing a large cloud folder
- A sync conflict or error looping
What to do
- 1Check each cloud app (iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) for sync status
- 2Pause syncing in one app at a time to find the busy one
- 3Update the cloud storage apps
- 4Restart your Mac
Safe to quit? With care.
macOS relaunches it; cloud folders may briefly disappear from Finder.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- Near 0% when idle
- Memory
- 20–200 MB
Related processes
- birdSyncs iCloud Drive (including Desktop and Documents if enabled) with iCloud.
- DropboxDropbox's file sync app; DropboxMacUpdate keeps it updated.
- OneDriveMicrosoft OneDrive, which syncs files and shows sync status in Finder.
- Google DriveGoogle Drive for desktop, which syncs your Google Drive files with your Mac.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library