What are these brown box icons in left bottom corner of my files??

Anonymous
2022-03-07T21:29:56+00:00

Does anyone know where these small brown box icons came from and what they mean?? I suddenly have these little brown icons (looks like a small file box) on most of my files, Word, pdf, photos, etc. I've googled the daylights out of this and apparently lots of folks have the same question but no one has an answer. I hasn't affected my ability to open files but it's really annoying! (see pic below) Does it have something to do with my upgrade to Windows 11?

Thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2022-04-23T00:35:08+00:00

Had this exact same issue today. The resolution was quick no reinstall. I'm on Win11, so perhaps that was a plus in this scenario. Here's the fix that worked for me:

  1. Open windows explorer <windows-key + e>
  2. If you're using OneDrive you should see something like "OneDrive - Personal" within the left-hand pane. If so, Right-Click to access the context-menu.
  3. You should see the menu-item: "Always keep on this device", select this.
  4. Recheck your desktop; no more brown boxes, yay!

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-17T10:23:20+00:00

    Had the same situation and read through a lot of fixes but none of them worked.

    I eventually found out i just needed to update my PC and the boxes disappeared.

    I'm sure you've already fixed this by now, this is just for those looking for a quicker explanation and solution. If it works then i'm glad i could help, if not i'm sorry I couldn't.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-20T23:24:43+00:00

    Thanks that fixed it, but triggerd that behaviour, it happend within the last hour>

    Thanks again Rudi

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-21T15:26:56+00:00

    I attempted the "fix" to the "brown box" issue using the steps listed above, which also appeared in another Windows help search. Here's what happened -- or rather, didn't happen.

    1. Worked fine
    2. Worked fine
    3. There was no menu-item called "Always keep on this device" to click on
    4. N/A because of #3.

    My other problem is that I cannot open these many, many files because it says the source is not available. I need more personalized help dealing with the fact that the steps given to resolve the problem fall flat because I don't have access to the "Always keep on this device" step.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-26T03:51:20+00:00

    I uninstalled OneDrive 2 months ago and I'm having Green arrows and brown boxes now! I absolutely hate how Onedrive take the PC hostage. I don't want anything to do with it, but cannot get rid of it even when it's gone!

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