MacBook Air M2 slow file access in apps

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Level 1

4 points

MacBook Air M2 slow file access in apps

Hello,

My Macbook Air M2 8GB has recently gone incredibly slow when having to access my files in things like Chrome, Preview etc.

A few examples of this where it takes a few seconds to navigate to file, open a file, change the name to save the file as etc:

If I click 'Save Image As' in Chrome
Pressing 'Upload Image/File' in Chrome
Saving an image in Preview
When I press 'Upload' on YouTube

However, if I open finder normally I can navigate between folders as normal and everything shows up instantly. It only seems to occur when I try to open my folders/files via an app (Chrome, Preview, etc).

I've uploaded this video showing the issue, hopefully it shows that it takes a while for each action to load where as usually it happens instantly.

Hopefully somehow can help as it's driving me mad

https://youtu.be/6zU8ZRT6nZE

MacBook Air, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 27, 2025 3:08 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

750XL Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 30, 2025 2:41 PM in response to HWTech

Sorry, another update after spending more time on AI looking into this.

I tried the bellow, and hey presto, it fixed the issue turning off iCloud Sync for Documents/Desktop. The only problem is I really need this feature of iCloud enabled.

Potential causes and solutions

iCloud Drive syncing: A known bug can cause this issue when "Desktop & Documents" syncing is enabled.
- Solution: Temporarily turn off "Desktop & Documents" syncing in System Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options. If this fixes the problem, you may need to wait for an Apple update or consider leaving it off and using an alternative sync method for those folders.

Does anybody have any fixes for this?

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

68,444 points

Nov 30, 2025 1:34 PM in response to 750XL

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if things improve. Report back with the results.

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

68,444 points

Nov 30, 2025 5:05 PM in response to 750XL

Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if the First Aid summary says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll through the report to see if any unfixed errors or warnings are listed. If there are any errors or warnings, then run First Aid again until they are gone. If after several attempts, they remain, then run First Aid while booted into Recovery Mode. If after several more attempts the errors remain, then you will need to erase the disk followed by restoring from a backup.

You can try the "Erase All Content & Settings" option which may delete & recreate the "Data" volume.....just run Disk Utility First Aid after restoring the system to confirm the errors/warnings are gone. Otherwise you will need to erase the disk using Disk Utility while booted into Recovery Mode (a much more time consuming option).

Also, how much Free storage space do you have? Unfortunately the "Available" storage value shown everywhere within macOS is very misleading and is not synonymous with Free. The only place you will find the actual Free storage space listed is within Disk Utility or the System Profiler (Disk Utility is easier to access).

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

68,444 points

Dec 1, 2025 6:56 PM in response to 750XL

It all looks good.

Run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for clues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

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Answer 5

750XL Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 1, 2025 4:18 AM in response to HWTech

Hello,

I've ran First Aid on the 'Machintosh HD' volume (which I think is the one you're referring to?) and it comes back with this. I think everything is ok?

Running First Aid on “Macintosh HD” (disk3s1)

Verifying the startup volume will cause this computer to stop responding.

Verifying file system.

Volume is already unmounted.

Live mode required because other APFS Volumes in its Container are mounted.

Using live mode.

Performing fsck_apfs -n -l -x /dev/rdisk3s1

Checking the container superblock.

Checking the checkpoint with transaction ID 15755138.

Checking the space manager.

Checking the space manager free queue trees.

Checking the object map.

Checking the encryption key structures.

Checking volume /dev/rdisk3s1.

Checking the APFS volume superblock.

The volume Macintosh HD was formatted by newfs_apfs (1677.41.3.101.1) and last modified by apfs_kext (2632.40.15.0.2).

Checking the object map.

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

Checking the snapshot metadata.

Checking snapshot 1 of 1 (com.apple.os.update-C6AB179000F92C4C211177BC5C840A511D1AA2A227C324AA9AAC14FC599E9873, transaction ID 15259690)

Checking the fsroot tree.

Checking the file extent tree.

Checking the extent ref tree.

Verifying volume object map space.

Verifying allocated space.

The volume /dev/rdisk3s1 with UUID 184C3005-EB15-4ACF-9B34-68B6414D837B appears to be OK.

File system check exit code is 0.

Restoring the original state found as unmounted.

Operation successful.

I also checked the Free Storage and it shows at 69GB

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Answer 6

750XL Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 30, 2025 2:37 PM in response to HWTech

Hello, thanks for the reply.

I booted in Safe Mode and the slow Open and Save dialogs problem does still seem to occur. However, if I log in with a Guest Profile instead of my own, there isn't an issue.

Any next steps would be appreciated

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Answer 7

750XL Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 30, 2025 12:07 PM in response to 750XL

Still suffering with this problem, can anyone help?

I believe it's known as the 'Save and Open Dialogs Bug'

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Answer 8