--- title: "Something's not working: start here" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/troubleshooting-start-here category: "Troubleshooting" tags: ["troubleshooting", "background activity", "services"] summary: "A quick way to find the right fix. Check the two screens that explain most problems — Settings → Services and Background Activity — then follow the symptom to its own article." updated: 2026-10-01T05:37:39.000Z --- # Something's not working: start here A quick way to find the right fix. Check the two screens that explain most problems — Settings → Services and Background Activity — then follow the symptom to its own article. Most problems in Storage Studio explain themselves on one of two screens. **Settings → Services** shows the live state of every part of the app, with a fix button where there is one, and **Background Activity** in the **More** menu shows each background job and anything that didn't finish. Start there, then find your symptom below. ## First, two quick checks 1. **Open Settings → Services.** A red or amber row names the part that needs attention. See [The Services pane](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/services-pane). 2. **Open Background Activity…** from the **More** menu (in the Advanced view it's **Job Insights…**). A job that needs a look has a notice explaining what happened. See [Background Activity and Job Insights](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/background-activity). Nothing Storage Studio moves is deleted until its copy has been checked, so while you work through a problem your files stay safe — see [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe). ## Find your symptom ```mermaid %% caption: Which troubleshooting article to read for each kind of problem flowchart TD A[Something's not working] --> B{What kind of problem?} B -->|Can't open or find the app| C[Opening and finding Storage Studio] B -->|Drive or moves| D[Drive and moving] B -->|Cloud, devices or backups| E[Accounts, devices and backups] B -->|Nothing seems to happen| F[Everything looks stuck] C --> G[macOS says it can't be opened] C --> H[Menu bar icon missing] D --> I[Drive not recognised] D --> J[A move failed] D --> K[Eject fails] E --> L[A transfer failed] E --> M[A backup didn't run] E --> N[Bridge won't connect] ``` *Flowchart — Which troubleshooting article to read for each kind of problem. Outline:* - Something's not working - leads to What kind of problem? - What kind of problem? - Can't open or find the app: leads to Opening and finding Storage Studio - Drive or moves: leads to Drive and moving - Cloud, devices or backups: leads to Accounts, devices and backups - Nothing seems to happen: leads to Everything looks stuck - Opening and finding Storage Studio - leads to macOS says it can't be opened - leads to Menu bar icon missing - Drive and moving - leads to Drive not recognised - leads to A move failed - leads to Eject fails - Accounts, devices and backups - leads to A transfer failed - leads to A backup didn't run - leads to Bridge won't connect **Opening and finding Storage Studio** - [macOS says the app can't be opened](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/macos-says-the-app-cant-be-opened) - [The menu bar icon doesn't appear](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/menu-bar-icon-missing) - [Full Disk Access is on but the app says it isn't](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/full-disk-access-not-detected) - [Paste or Select All doesn't work in a text box](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/paste-doesnt-work-in-a-text-box) **Background work** - [Everything looks stuck](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/everything-looks-stuck) - ["Service is stopped" won't go away](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/service-is-stopped) - [Moves or transfers say a component is missing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/engine-missing) **Your drive and moves** - [The drive isn't recognised as set up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-says-not-set-up) - [A folder move failed or was cancelled](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-move-failed) - [The drive was unplugged during a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-unplugged-during-a-move) - [Eject fails: "Files still in use"](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/eject-fails-files-in-use) - [A moved app won't open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-moved-app-wont-open) - [I moved files but my free space didn't go up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/space-didnt-come-back-after-a-move) **Rules and automatic moves** - [My rules don't move anything from Documents or Desktop](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/rules-dont-move-documents-or-desktop) - [A dry run shows files I don't want moved](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/dry-run-shows-unwanted-files) **Cloud accounts, Finder, devices and backups** - [My cloud accounts list is empty after signing in](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/cloud-account-list-is-empty) - [Signing in to another Apple ID's iCloud fails](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/icloud-sign-in-problems) - [A transfer failed](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-transfer-failed) - [The Storage Studio location is missing from Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-finder-location-is-missing) - [Two devices won't connect with Bridge](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bridge-devices-cant-connect) - [A backup didn't run](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-backup-didnt-run) - [The setup code for storage you own didn't arrive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/my-drive-code-didnt-arrive) **The Junk Yard** - [The Junk Yard won't open or stops capturing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-junk-yard-wont-open) ## Still stuck? Ask Tuhi on the Home screen, or use **Contact Support** in the **More** menu and include your diagnostic logs. See [Getting help](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/getting-help) and [Sharing diagnostic logs with support](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/sharing-diagnostic-logs). Restarting Storage Studio (right-click the menu bar icon, then **Restart Storage Studio**) clears many one-off problems. If you're in the middle of connecting two devices, note that a restart also drops their link for a moment. ## What links here - ["Service is stopped" won't go away](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/service-is-stopped) - [A backup didn't run](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-backup-didnt-run) - [A dry run shows files I don't want moved](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/dry-run-shows-unwanted-files) - [A folder move failed or was cancelled](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-move-failed) - [A moved app won't open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-moved-app-wont-open) - [A transfer failed](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-transfer-failed) - [Background Activity and Job Insights](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/background-activity) - [Eject fails: "Files still in use"](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/eject-fails-files-in-use) - [Everything looks stuck](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/everything-looks-stuck) - [Full Disk Access is on but the app says it isn't](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/full-disk-access-not-detected) - [Getting help: Contact Support and My Support](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/getting-help) - [I moved files but my free space didn't go up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/space-didnt-come-back-after-a-move) - [Moves or transfers say a component is missing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/engine-missing) - [My cloud accounts list is empty after signing in](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/cloud-account-list-is-empty) - [My rules don't move anything from Documents or Desktop](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/rules-dont-move-documents-or-desktop) - [Paste or Select All doesn't work in a text box](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/paste-doesnt-work-in-a-text-box) - [Self-healing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/self-healing) - [Signing in to another Apple ID's iCloud fails](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/icloud-sign-in-problems) - [The Junk Yard won't open or stops capturing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-junk-yard-wont-open) - [The My Drive code didn't arrive or doesn't work](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/my-drive-code-didnt-arrive) - [The Services pane](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/services-pane) - [The Storage Studio location is missing from Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-finder-location-is-missing) - [The drive isn't recognised as set up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-says-not-set-up) - [The drive was unplugged during a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-unplugged-during-a-move) - [The menu bar icon doesn't appear](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/menu-bar-icon-missing) - [Two devices won't connect with Bridge](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bridge-devices-cant-connect) - [When the location falls back to a mounted drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/when-the-location-falls-back-to-a-mounted-drive) - [macOS says the app can't be opened](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/macos-says-the-app-cant-be-opened)