diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/editor.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/editor.js
index 3b357b4d9..df386ad80 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/editor.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/frontend/controllers/editor.js
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
       this.postThemeToExternalEditor();
     }.bind(this))
 
+    $rootScope.$on("sync:taking-too-long", function(){
+      this.syncTakingTooLong = true;
+    }.bind(this));
+
     window.addEventListener("message", function(event){
       if(event.data.status) {
         this.postNoteToExternalEditor();
@@ -178,6 +182,7 @@ angular.module('app.frontend')
       var note = this.note;
       note.dummy = false;
       this.save()(note, function(success){
+        this.syncTakingTooLong = false;
         if(success) {
           if(statusTimeout) $timeout.cancel(statusTimeout);
           statusTimeout = $timeout(function(){
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/syncManager.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/syncManager.js
index 7c47b8ef9..4389350e5 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/syncManager.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/services/syncManager.js
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 class SyncManager {
 
-  constructor($rootScope, modelManager, authManager, dbManager, httpManager) {
+  constructor($rootScope, modelManager, authManager, dbManager, httpManager, $interval) {
     this.$rootScope = $rootScope;
     this.httpManager = httpManager;
     this.modelManager = modelManager;
     this.authManager = authManager;
     this.dbManager = dbManager;
+    this.$interval = $interval;
     this.syncStatus = {};
   }
 
@@ -122,18 +123,40 @@ class SyncManager {
     }
   }
 
+  beginCheckingIfSyncIsTakingTooLong() {
+    this.syncStatus.checker = this.$interval(function(){
+      // check to see if the ongoing sync is taking too long, alert the user
+      var secondsPassed = (new Date() - this.syncStatus.syncStart) / 1000;
+      var warningThreshold = 5; // seconds
+      if(secondsPassed > warningThreshold) {
+        this.$rootScope.$broadcast("sync:taking-too-long");
+        this.stopCheckingIfSyncIsTakingTooLong();
+      }
+    }.bind(this), 500)
+  }
+
+  stopCheckingIfSyncIsTakingTooLong() {
+    this.$interval.cancel(this.syncStatus.checker);
+  }
+
   sync(callback, options = {}) {
 
+    var allDirtyItems = this.modelManager.getDirtyItems();
+    
     if(this.syncStatus.syncOpInProgress) {
       this.repeatOnCompletion = true;
       if(callback) {
         this.queuedCallbacks.push(callback);
       }
+
+      // write to local storage nonetheless, since some users may see several second delay in server response.
+      // if they close the browser before the ongoing sync request completes, local changes will be lost if we dont save here
+      this.writeItemsToLocalStorage(allDirtyItems, false, null);
+
       console.log("Sync op in progress; returning.");
       return;
     }
 
-    var allDirtyItems = this.modelManager.getDirtyItems();
 
     // we want to write all dirty items to disk only if the user is offline, or if the sync op fails
     // if the sync op succeeds, these items will be written to disk by handling the "saved_items" response from the server
@@ -146,6 +169,8 @@ class SyncManager {
     var isContinuationSync = this.syncStatus.needsMoreSync;
 
     this.syncStatus.syncOpInProgress = true;
+    this.syncStatus.syncStart = new Date();
+    this.beginCheckingIfSyncIsTakingTooLong();
 
     let submitLimit = 100;
     var subItems = allDirtyItems.slice(0, submitLimit);
@@ -172,6 +197,10 @@ class SyncManager {
     params.sync_token = this.syncToken;
     params.cursor_token = this.cursorToken;
 
+    var onSyncCompletion = function(response) {
+      this.stopCheckingIfSyncIsTakingTooLong();
+    }.bind(this);
+
     var onSyncSuccess = function(response) {
       this.modelManager.clearDirtyItems(subItems);
       this.syncStatus.error = null;
@@ -197,6 +226,8 @@ class SyncManager {
       this.syncToken = response.sync_token;
       this.cursorToken = response.cursor_token;
 
+      onSyncCompletion(response);
+
       if(this.cursorToken || this.syncStatus.needsMoreSync) {
         setTimeout(function () {
           this.sync(callback, options);
@@ -229,6 +260,8 @@ class SyncManager {
         this.syncStatus.error = error;
         this.writeItemsToLocalStorage(allDirtyItems, false, null);
 
+        onSyncCompletion(response);
+
         this.$rootScope.$broadcast("sync:error", error);
 
         this.callQueuedCallbacksAndCurrent(callback, {error: "Sync error"});
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/app/_standard.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/app/_standard.scss
index 80734ae68..aee73adf3 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/app/_standard.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/app/_standard.scss
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@
   color: red !important;
 }
 
+.orange {
+  color: orange !important;
+}
+
 .bold {
   font-weight: bold !important;
 }
diff --git a/app/assets/templates/frontend/editor.html.haml b/app/assets/templates/frontend/editor.html.haml
index 42ec42fc9..e14eaf3b9 100644
--- a/app/assets/templates/frontend/editor.html.haml
+++ b/app/assets/templates/frontend/editor.html.haml
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
       %input.input#note-title-editor{"ng-model" => "ctrl.note.title", "ng-keyup" => "$event.keyCode == 13 && ctrl.saveTitle($event)",
                 "ng-change" => "ctrl.nameChanged()", "ng-focus" => "ctrl.onNameFocus()",
                 "select-on-click" => "true"}
-    #save-status{"ng-class" => "{'red bold': ctrl.saveError}", "ng-bind-html" => "ctrl.noteStatus"}
+
+    #save-status{"ng-class" => "{'red bold': ctrl.saveError, 'orange bold': ctrl.syncTakingTooLong}", "ng-bind-html" => "ctrl.noteStatus"}
+
     .editor-tags
       %input.tags-input{"type" => "text", "ng-keyup" => "$event.keyCode == 13 && $event.target.blur();",
       "ng-model" => "ctrl.tagsString", "placeholder" => "#tags", "ng-blur" => "ctrl.updateTagsFromTagsString($event, ctrl.tagsString)"}