Files & formats

Apple Music songs grayed out? Check the song’s Cloud Status

The short answer

If you use Sync Library, open Songs on the Mac or PC that holds your music library and show Cloud Status. A song waiting to sync, a missing local file, and a withdrawn catalog entry each need a different fix.

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01Show Cloud Status on the computer that holds the library

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In Apple Music on Mac, open Songs and choose View > Show View Options. In the Apple Music app for Windows, open Songs and right-click the column headers. Turn on Cloud Status and Cloud Download. If tracks are missing across devices, check that the Music app uses the Apple Account tied to your subscription on each device and that Sync Library is on.

02An exclamation mark or Waiting points to the original computer

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For an exclamation mark, select it and choose Locate to reconnect the song to its original file. For Waiting, connect the computer that holds the track to the internet and run Update Cloud Library. On Mac, look under File > Library. On Windows, open Sidebar Actions > Library. Check the other device after the sync finishes.

03No Longer Available points to the catalog

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Search the Apple Music catalog for the song and play the result to check it before adding a replacement version. For an iTunes Store purchase, check the account used for the purchase and whether the computer is authorized. Before making library-wide changes, back up any music files you imported. Turning off Sync Library removes downloaded music.

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