Understanding Sync Stages

When a user is added to a sync policy, they move through a series of stages before reaching a steady state of ongoing synchronisation. Understanding these stages helps you interpret dashboard and status page data and troubleshoot issues.

The sync lifecycle

The dashboard sync pipeline shows three stages that every user progresses through:

Stage	Pipeline label	What happens	Duration
1. Waiting	Policy assigned	The user has been matched by a policy's user selection rules. CloudM Continuity has identified them for sync but processing has not started yet.	Typically minutes, depending on queue depth
2. Initial Sync	In progress	A bulk migration of the last 30 days of mail data from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace. This is the longest stage.	Minutes to hours, depending on mailbox size
3. Synced	Initial complete	Initial migration is done. The user is now in the ongoing delta sync cycle, where new and changed items are synced on a regular schedule.	Continuous — runs at the policy's configured frequency

Stage 1: Waiting

When a sync policy is enabled or its user selection rules are evaluated, matching users are placed in the queue. During this stage:

• The user appears in the dashboard sync pipeline under "Waiting — Policy assigned"
• The Status page shows the user with a pending status
• No data has been synced yet

Behind the scenes, CloudM Continuity checks whether a corresponding Google Workspace account exists for the user, and provisions one if needed. Users move out of this stage automatically when the system begins processing their sync.

Stage 2: Initial Sync

This is the bulk migration stage where the last 30 days of mail data is copied from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace. Key characteristics:

• One-time operation — runs once per user when they are first added to sync
• Processes the last 30 days — mail folders, messages, and folder structure from the most recent 30-day window
• Resource-intensive — larger mailboxes take longer
• Tracked on the dashboard — shown in the "Initial Sync" stage of the sync pipeline and the Initial Sync Status donut chart

Initial sync outcome	What happens next
Successful	The user moves to the Synced stage automatically
Failed	The failure is logged. The system may retry automatically. Check the Status page for error details.

Stage 3: Synced (delta sync)

Once initial sync is complete, the user enters the Synced stage. This is the steady-state operation where ongoing delta syncs keep the Google Workspace copy up to date:

• Incremental updates only — only new and changed items since the last sync are processed
• Runs on a schedule — based on the policy's sync frequency
• Lightweight — each delta sync is much faster than the initial sync
• Automatic retries — transient failures are retried automatically on the next cycle

The dashboard shows delta status indicators for users in the Synced stage:

Indicator	Colour	Meaning
Idle / Up to date	Green	The most recent delta sync completed successfully
Running delta	Blue	A delta sync is currently in progress
Last delta failed	Red	The most recent delta sync failed and needs investigation

Most users will spend the majority of their time in the Synced stage.

Monitoring stages on the dashboard

The sync pipeline section of the dashboard shows how many users are in each of the three stages. A healthy deployment shows most users in the Synced stage, with a small number in Initial Sync (for newly added users) and few or no users in Waiting.

Pattern	What it means
Most users in Synced	Normal — your deployment is up and running
Many users in Initial Sync	Expected after first setup or after adding many new users to a policy
Many users in Waiting	May indicate the system is processing a large batch, or there is a delay in provisioning
Users stuck in one stage	Investigate on the Status page — there may be an error preventing progression