Cloud sync is paused — what happens to my changes

Once a year, usually from mid-July until the start of the new term, your school's cloud sync pauses. During that period Realsmart stops sending changes to Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra.

You'll see a banner saying "Cloud sync is paused until …" on the Users and Groups pages while this is happening (it's only shown when your school has Google or Entra sync switched on). Your Dashboard also shows a Sync is frozen for the summer card — MIS changes are being held — with a Go to end of year button. If you can't see either, your sync isn't paused and this page doesn't apply to you.

Nothing you do during the pause is lost. Everything is saved in Realsmart straight away, and it all reaches your cloud platforms automatically when sync resumes. You don't need to redo anything, make a list, or re-save anything afterwards.

Why the pause exists

The pause protects your data during the changeover between academic years. In that window your MIS is mid-rollover: leavers haven't left yet, new starters aren't in properly, and classes for the new year are half-built. If Realsmart kept pushing all of that to Google and Entra as it changed, staff and pupils would see accounts and groups appearing, disappearing and moving for weeks.

See The provisioning window and the freeze for the dates and how they're set.

What still works during the pause

Almost everything. Only the push to Google, Entra and Active Directory is held.

Two of those catch people out:

• A password change does not reach Google, Entra or Active Directory. The new password works for Realsmart immediately; the platform password stays as it was until sync resumes.
• Deleting a user does not delete their Google or Entra account. They can no longer sign in to Realsmart from the moment you delete them, but their platform account is not touched while sync is paused, and the weekday 20:00 clean-up waits too, so you can still restore them. After sync resumes, the first weekday clean-up suspends their Google account and removes them from Realsmart. See End-of-term tidy-up.

"My user isn't in the Google Admin Console"

This is the single most common question during the pause, and it usually isn't a fault.

1. Open Users and look for the Cloud sync is paused banner at the top of the page.
2. If it's there, the account was created correctly in Realsmart and simply hasn't been sent yet. It will appear in Google or Entra automatically when sync resumes on the date the banner shows.
3. If there's no banner, your sync isn't paused and something else is going on — work through User not syncing instead.

Why "Add to sync queue" is greyed out

While sync is paused, the bulk Add to sync queue action on Users and Groups is disabled and labelled with the reason.

It's switched off deliberately. Adding thousands of users to a queue that isn't being processed achieves nothing, and it would hide any genuinely urgent change in the noise. Everything is queued for you automatically at resume anyway.

Sending one account through early

Occasionally an account genuinely can't wait — a new starter needs their Google login this week, or you've created a service account you need now. Send now pushes named people or groups through the pause.

The button names the platforms it will reach — for example Send to Google Workspace now, or Send to Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra now if you run both. One click covers every cloud platform your school has switched on.

To send a user:

1. Open Users and select the person.
2. On their page, in the Cloud sync is paused banner, decide whether to switch on Include their groups (see below).
3. Choose the Send to … button.
4. Read the confirmation, then confirm.

To send several at once, tick them in the Users list and choose Send now from the action bar. The same Include their groups switch is in that panel. Groups can also be sent on their own from the Groups list.

What to know before you use it:

• It's for named people only. "Select all matching" is refused — you have to tick the specific people you need.
• Up to 20 at a time. That's the only limit — there's no cap on how many you may send in total across the pause, so a big intake or a September of new staff can all go early if you need them to.
• The rest of the school stays paused. Sending one account doesn't restart anything else.
• Every use is recorded in the admin audit trail, with who did it, who was sent, and which groups went with them.
• It isn't instant. Send now hands the work to your sync, which usually finishes within a few minutes. The message on screen confirms what was sent for processing, not what has landed in your cloud platform — for Google, the Provisioning runs page (Sync status → Provisioning runs) shows whether it finished; for Microsoft Entra, check the Logs page with Source set to Microsoft Entra. (The on-screen message points you to "Sync → Runs"; that is the Provisioning runs page.)

Include their groups

By default Send now sends the account only. The person appears in Google or Entra, but not yet in any of their groups — those are added when sync resumes.

Switch on Include their groups and their groups are sent too: each group is created in your cloud platform if it isn't there already, and the people you selected are added to it.

• Nobody else in those groups is sent. Other members of the same class or year group stay paused, exactly as they were.
• Nothing is removed. If somebody should be taken out of a group, that happens at resume, not now.
• A user in several groups is several things created. Sending one person who's in eight synced groups creates nine objects in your cloud platform, not one. The confirmation tells you the number before you confirm, so the scale is never a surprise.
• It's all or nothing. If any of the groups can't be sent, the whole send is refused and nothing goes — you never end up with an account that's in some of its groups but not others.
• The switch is off every time. It isn't remembered between sends, so you choose deliberately each time.

Leave it off unless the person actually needs their group access straight away — a shared mailbox, a Team, or a class they're teaching this week. For most new starters the account on its own is enough until term begins.

A group sent on its own from the Groups list still arrives empty. That send creates the group; it doesn't add anybody to it.

If Send now isn't offered, either sync isn't paused, your school has no live cloud sync, or your admin account doesn't have permission to run syncs.

Creating accounts for a whole new intake

Send now is for the occasional one-off. If you need accounts for new staff and the pre-admission pupils you have chosen to import before term starts, use Release early accounts on Data → Incoming learners and mentors instead (the End of year page has a card that points you there) — it pulls them from your MIS, shows you a preview first, and creates them in one reviewed batch.

See Release early accounts during the freeze.

When does it start again?

The banner shows the date. On that day the pause lifts by itself, and a full sync reconciles everything — every user and every group, including all the changes made during the pause. There's nothing you need to do.

See Resume and rollover.

Related

• How syncing works
• The provisioning window and the freeze
• Release early accounts during the freeze
• User not syncing — troubleshooting