Files have a brown box on their icon and dont open in Windows 11

Anonymous
2022-02-12T17:29:29+00:00

What is going on here? There is no information anywhere so it obviously isnt a problem for everyone.

Most of my files stored on Dropbox now have a small brown file box icon on the lower left corner of the main icon for all MS Office files. They open perfectly well on the phone and a laptop running Windows 10 but not on my laptop running Windows 11.

I get an error message saying the program cant open it because the file is unsupported or may be corrupt.

Why the **** do they release an OS that doesn't work with their own programs??

Please help,

Thanks

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-03-31T23:04:38+00:00

    When I right-click> "Show more options", I don't get a "smart sync" option.

    I don't see an option to sync it anywhere.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-03-31T22:49:49+00:00

    Have you tried this: Right-click on the file or folder: then go to "Show more options" > "Smart Sync" > and then switch the file status to "local" (rather than "Online Only" ? I read in an earlier post that the brown box was signifying that the file was really just a shortcut to online. So if you wanted it to be the actual file and not a shortcut, you have to switch the status in Smart Sync.

    I hope that helps.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-03-31T20:31:51+00:00

    So, can you tell me how to fix this?

    I can't open any of the files that have this brown file box -- and I need to open them.

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  4. Diane Poremsky MVP 17,526 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-03-29T20:18:27+00:00

    This isn't the first weird problem that the affected users needed to figure out on their own and it won't be the last. :)

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-03-29T18:02:49+00:00

    That makes sense, Powella1 and Diane. I just still find it hard to believe that even that bit of information isn’t available to help someone with this issue. I’ve seen online questions about the brown boxes dating back to 2021 and no answers or information has ever been provided that is anywhere close to being as helpful as what you’ve just explained.

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