Pausing or stopping everything

If something looks wrong, you can stop Storage Studio at whatever level you need: one move or clear-up with its own Stop or Cancel button, its automatic clear-ups with Pause, all of its background work with Minimum mode, or everything at once by quitting. Stopping part-way is safe: an original is never removed until its copy has finished and been checked, so a cancelled move leaves your files where they were.

Pick the right control

%% caption: Which control to use when something looks wrong
flowchart TD
  A[Something looks wrong] --> B{What do you want to stop?}
  B -->|One folder move| C[Cancel it in Data Parking's Moves panel]
  B -->|All queued moves| D[Pause the queue or Cancel all moves]
  B -->|An Emergency Space clear-up| E[Click Stop on the run]
  B -->|Automatic clear-ups| F[Pause in the Advanced view]
  B -->|All background work| G[Choose Minimum performance mode]
  B -->|Everything right now| H[Quit Storage Studio]

Stopping folder moves

Moves you start in Data Parking are listed in its Moves panel.

• Cancel one move from the Moves panel. The copy stops and the original isn't touched. The one exception is a move that has already reached its very last step, removing the original after a checked copy; that step is allowed to finish.
• Pause the queue — "a copy already running finishes, but no new jobs start until you resume."
• Cancel all moves stops every running, queued and waiting move in that window after you confirm. As the confirmation says, your source files are never deleted before a move finishes, so nothing is lost.

A cancelled move can leave a partial copy at the destination. Your original is still complete; you can delete the partial copy or simply start the move again. See A folder move failed or was cancelled.

Stopping an Emergency Space clear-up

An Emergency Space run has its own Stop button. It finishes the folder it's already working on, so nothing is left half-removed, then halts. Carry on picks up where it stopped. Anything it had already removed is in the Recycle Vault.

Pausing automatic clear-ups

In the Advanced view's popover, Pause halts Storage Studio's automatic actions while the background service keeps running. Free Up Space and the scheduled relocation of folders sleep until you click Resume. While paused, the Home screen shows Automatic actions are paused with its own Resume button. (To reach the Advanced view, use Switch to Advanced View in the More menu.)

Pause doesn't stop rules that move a watched folder's files automatically as they change. Turn those rules off in the Rules window — see Rules: moving folders automatically — or use Minimum mode below.

The Advanced popover also has Stop Service, which unloads the background service. It isn't a lasting off switch: while Storage Studio is open, self-healing notices a service that isn't running and starts it again. Use Pause when you want automatic actions to stay off.

Holding all background work

Choosing Minimum — core only as the performance mode, in the Storage Profile window, holds Storage Studio's background work in one step: rules that move files automatically, scheduled transfers, automatic backups, background duplicate scans, Bridge and Junk Yard capture. Things you start yourself still work. Switch back to Automatic — adapts to your Mac to resume.

Quitting

Quit Storage Studio, at the bottom of the More menu, closes the app and the helper processes it started. A copy that was in progress stops, and its original stays where it was — originals are only removed after a copy has finished and been checked.

Afterwards

• To see what ran and whether anything went wrong, open Background Activity from the More menu.
• To undo a batch of moves, use Restore Points → Roll Back Last Batch.
• To get back something that was removed, use the Recycle Vault.

See also: How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible · Everything looks stuck · "Service is stopped" won't go away