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Cloud folders

Folders in iCloud Drive and in the cloud providers under ~/Library/CloudStorage can have a sidebar icon like any local folder. This page lists which locations work, shows how to add one, and explains why it works. Read it if your files live in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.

On this page

Which cloud locations work

Any folder inside these locations can be a favorite. The app treats it exactly like a folder on your disk.

LocationWhere it is on diskNotes
iCloud DriveThe iCloud Drive location in Finder.Pick a folder inside iCloud Drive. Finder’s own iCloud Drive row cannot take an icon.
Google Drive~/Library/CloudStoragePick a folder inside the Google Drive folder that the provider creates there.
Dropbox~/Library/CloudStoragePick a folder inside the Dropbox folder that the provider creates there.
OneDrive~/Library/CloudStoragePick a folder inside the OneDrive folder that the provider creates there.
Other providers~/Library/CloudStorageFolders under ~/Library/CloudStorage work the same way, whichever provider put them there.

Add a cloud folder

You add a cloud folder the same way as any other folder. The steps below are the short form; Quick start has the full walk-through.

  1. Click + in the manager window.

    You seeThe favorite editor opens in its own window.

  2. Click Browse... and choose the folder inside iCloud Drive or ~/Library/CloudStorage.

    You seeThe folder path is filled in and the name follows the folder.

  3. Choose an SF Symbol or a custom SVG for the icon.

  4. Click Add.

    You seeThe folder appears in Finder's sidebar with your icon. If Finder still shows a stale icon, a Restart Finder banner appears.

Why it works

SidebarFavorites sets the icon on the sidebar row, not on the folder. Finder looks up the icon through macOS, which does not care whether the path is local, in iCloud Drive or in a cloud provider’s folder. The same mechanism therefore covers every kind of folder.

PartWhat happens
The folderAdding a favorite writes nothing into the folder, so nothing is uploaded or synced because of it.
The sidebar rowThe app adds the row and stores a short icon code on it.
The iconIt comes from one small helper bundle in the app’s own folder. No extension runs for it and you enable nothing in System Settings.

For the full mechanism, see How it works.

What does not take an icon

Finder’s own rows for iCloud Drive and for the cloud providers in Locations cannot take a custom icon. macOS stores one and never draws it, so the app leaves those rows alone. Add a folder inside the cloud location instead. The full list is in Rows that cannot take an icon.

A favorite whose folder path is a symlink to a cloud folder keeps working. The app matches a sidebar row by the path as you typed it and by the path the symlink leads to, so the row is found either way. You can also point the favorite at the real folder.

If it does not work

What you seeCauseFix
A warning in the manager window of the form Name: folder no longer exists at followed by the path.The folder is not on disk. The provider may not be running, or you may be signed out of it.Start the provider and make sure the folder is there in Finder. Then press Refresh in the manager window.
The sidebar shows a stale icon.Finder has not redrawn the row yet.Press Restart Finder on the banner, or in Settings.
You cannot give Finder’s iCloud Drive row an icon.Finder’s own cloud rows never draw a custom icon.Add a folder inside iCloud Drive instead.

For other problems, see Troubleshooting.