The operation can't be completed because needs to be downloaded [Fix]

macos tips
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I’ve come across this error reading “The operation can’t be completed because needs to be downloaded” several times when either deleting or moving files or folders on Mac. I thought you might have similar problems and might want to resolve them, so I made this post to summarize my experience and share the solutions I found from other fellow Mac users.

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The first time I encountered this error, “The operation can’t be completed because “cat.jpeg” needs to be downloaded”, was when I was trying to move some photos from an SD card to my MacBook Pro.

  • Turns out the problem lies in the folder on my Mac. Once I deleted the folder I intended for saving the photos and created a new one with the same name, I was able to transfer the photos. I still don’t understand why but the issue is gone.

The other time I got this error when uninstalling an app called Parallels Desktop. I initially moved this app to Trash successfully, but restored it to my desktop to use an uninstaller program. Unfortunately, this resulted in the app being unremovable from the desktop with a cloud icon. Also, rebooting didn’t help.

  • I fixed it by deleting the app from Terminal. Here are the detailed steps you can follow:
  1. Launch Terminal.
  2. Type sudo rm -rf, leave a space, and then drag and drop the app that won’t be deleted to the Terminal window to get its file path.
  3. Hit Enter to run the command.
  4. Type your admin login password and hit Enter.

You can read this guide to learn more about deleting apps on Mac: Delete Apps on Mac that won’t Delete (Launchpad/Finder)

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Thanks for sharing! I believe the error message “The operation can’t be completed because needs to be downloaded” is caused by cloud syncing. The files or folders you’re interacting with are likely synced in the cloud and that’s why it asks you to download them first.

In my case, I received this error when copying my User folder to an external SSD to save space on my Mac. After several attempts, I figured out the issue was due to iCloud. So I disabled the iCloud drive and was able to copy the folder with a separate administrator account.

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Moving your User folder is a bit risky. I hope you have a backup of your Mac in case anything goes wrong. If you only want to clear space on your Mac, a tool like iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Mac can help you remove large and unwanted files easily.

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I faced a similar situation and resolved the issue by removing Dropbox and deleting the Dropbox folder.

I was also trying to move the User folder to an external drive. It seemed that to copy the directory, one must ensure an offline copy of the files on the file system, or disable any software that uses the APFS File Provider API, such as Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, One Drive, etc.

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