diff --git a/src/components/empty-list-state.cjsx b/src/components/empty-list-state.cjsx
index 6fa8d0140..a3adc0ddf 100644
--- a/src/components/empty-list-state.cjsx
+++ b/src/components/empty-list-state.cjsx
@@ -83,15 +83,16 @@ class EmptyListState extends React.Component
 
   constructor: (@props) ->
     @_mounted = false
-    @state =
-      syncing: NylasSyncStatusStore.busy()
+    @state = Object.assign
       active: false
       rect: {}
+      @_getStateFromStores()
 
   componentDidMount: ->
     @_mounted = true
     @_unlisteners = []
-    @_unlisteners.push NylasSyncStatusStore.listen(@_onChange, @)
+    @_unlisteners.push NylasSyncStatusStore.listen((=> @setState @_getStateFromStores()), @)
+    @_unlisteners.push FocusedPerspectiveStore.listen((=> @setState @_getStateFromStores()), @)
     window.addEventListener('resize', @_onResize)
     if @props.visible and not @state.active
       rect = @_getDimensions()
@@ -149,8 +150,18 @@ class EmptyListState extends React.Component
     if rect
       @setState({rect})
 
-  _onChange: ->
-    @setState
-      syncing: NylasSyncStatusStore.busy()
+  _getStateFromStores: ->
+    currentPerspective = FocusedPerspectiveStore.current()
+    accountIds = currentPerspective.accountIds
+    if accountIds.length == 1
+      accountId = accountIds[0]
+      categories = currentPerspective.categories
+      folderName = null
+      if categories.length == 1 and categories[0].object == 'folder'
+        folderName = categories[0].displayName
+      syncing = !NylasSyncStatusStore.isSyncCompleteForAccount(accountId, folderName)
+    else
+      syncing = NylasSyncStatusStore.busy()
+    return syncing: syncing
 
 module.exports = EmptyListState
diff --git a/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.es6 b/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.es6
index c44b6ce15..3ec7253ae 100644
--- a/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.es6
+++ b/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.es6
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class NylasSyncStatusStore extends NylasStore {
   constructor() {
     super()
     this._statesByAccount = {}
-    this._subscriptions = new Map()
+    this._accountSubscriptions = new Map()
     this._triggerDebounced = _.debounce(this.trigger, 100)
 
     this.listenTo(AccountStore, () => this._onAccountsChanged())
@@ -54,28 +54,28 @@ class NylasSyncStatusStore extends NylasStore {
     }, 30 * 1000)
 
     this._onCategoriesChanged()
-    this._setupSubscriptions(AccountStore.accountIds())
+    this._setupAccountSubscriptions(AccountStore.accountIds())
   }
 
-  _setupSubscriptions(accountIds) {
+  _setupAccountSubscriptions(accountIds) {
     accountIds.forEach((accountId) => {
-      if (this._subscriptions.has(accountId)) { return; }
+      if (this._accountSubscriptions.has(accountId)) { return; }
       const query = DatabaseStore.findJSONBlob(`NylasSyncWorker:${accountId}`)
       const sub = Rx.Observable.fromQuery(query)
       .subscribe((json) => this._updateState(accountId, json))
-      this._subscriptions.set(accountId, sub)
+      this._accountSubscriptions.set(accountId, sub)
     })
   }
 
   _onAccountsChanged() {
-    const currentIds = Array.from(this.subscriptions.keys())
+    const currentIds = Array.from(this._accountSubscriptions.keys())
     const nextIds = AccountStore.accountIds()
     const newIds = _.difference(nextIds, currentIds)
     const removedIds = _.difference(currentIds, nextIds)
 
     removedIds.forEach((accountId) => {
-      if (this._subscriptions.has(accountId)) {
-        this._subscriptions.get(accountId).dispose()
+      if (this._accountSubscriptions.has(accountId)) {
+        this._accountSubscriptions.get(accountId).dispose()
       }
 
       if (this._statesByAccount[accountId]) {
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class NylasSyncStatusStore extends NylasStore {
         this._triggerDebounced()
       }
     })
-    this._setupSubscriptions(newIds)
+    this._setupAccountSubscriptions(newIds)
   }
 
   _onCategoriesChanged() {