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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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
    2022-11-27T13:27:47+00:00

    Hi, I was given the ole, "It's a Microsoft issue from Dropbox, and it's a Dropbox issue from Microsoft One Drive (this is actually the ultimate culprit, but their support was useless), and it's an ASUS storage problem from Microsoft Word support 😡. Two wasted days and stress.

    I finally somehow got through to Microsoft Windows support, who, after many hours realized it had to do with Microsoft One Drive archiving the files, screwing up their ability to sync with Dropbox or open correctly. I use Dropbox and everything opened and worked fine from my the Dropbox website, but the files were no longer being synced there.😫 and I couldn't work with them from my desktop.

    She finally clicked on every folder and every subfolder, I have hundreds, clicked the Dropbox icon, and selected view offline. Then she realized she could click on the main folders and do it for all subfolders.

    That worked. But she also did some other stuff that I couldn't follow to get them to sync with Dropbox again.

    In my opinion, an intentional ploy by Microsoft to get you to pay for Windows Operating support (which she said she would wave because I was so hopping mad at this point) and to make you think One Drive is better than the other cloud storage options.

    Microsoft is not what it once was, but what accessible alternatives do we have?

    Good luck.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-20T18:10:59+00:00

    hi! so i was just having the same issue after i just built my OC and installed windows 11 too and i was clicking around after also trying the previously suggested fixes with no success.

    HERE IS HOW TO FIX: .... so simple lol

    In files app, right click on One Drive and select properties, under attributes uncheck the read only box and click apply and the icons should disappear!

    you can now open your docs in the apps instead of having to do it on the website. :)

    the read only box with re check itself if you right click and go to properties again but im not sure if this will effect the docs in the future. i hope it doesnt otherwise il just keep unchecking that box every time they reappear for some reason.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-11-08T19:42:58+00:00

    I wondered the same. I paused Sync on one drive, then resumed and they went away.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-10-21T20:25:07+00:00

    I didn't read through all 6 pages of responses, but I thought I'd post the solution for me. Much easier and quicker than stopping and re-starting OneDrive. Sorry if it's already been posted. From Microsoft Support:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-do-the-onedrive-icons-mean-11143026-8000-44f8-aaa9-67c985aa49b3

    Brown box on Desktop icons

    A brown box over your Windows Desktop icons can be caused by an issue with Windows Explorer. <br> <br>To resolve the issue, restart Windows Explorer:<br><ol type="1"><li style="margin-left: 0"><p data-prewrap="true">Press <b>Windows key</b>  + <b>E</b>.</p></li><li style="margin-left: 0"><p data-prewrap="true">Press <b>CTRL</b> + <b>ALT</b> + <b>DEL</b> and select <b>Task Manager</b>.</p></li><li style="margin-left: 0"><p data-prewrap="true">Select <b>More details</b> to show all the apps.</p></li><li style="margin-left: 0"><p data-prewrap="true">On the <b>Processes</b> tab, under Apps, right-click on <b>Windows Explorer</b>.</p></li><li style="margin-left: 0"><p data-prewrap="true">Select <b>Restart</b>.</p></li></ol>

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