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

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.

0 comments

118 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2022-04-01T00:32:37+00:00

    oh ok. As Diane outlined below, the "smart sync" is for Dropbox files. That is the issue I was having. I opted to bring some of my files to "local" and brown box went away. Others that are used less frequently I left as "online only" ... so those still have the brown box letting me know that they are effectively just "shortcuts".

    Cindy

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Diane Poremsky MVP 17,526 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-04-01T00:50:20+00:00

    Are you signed into OneDrive?

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2022-04-01T00:52:42+00:00

    I'm so sorry for being dumb, but how do I do that?

    I don't see anywhere to change it. Is it in a setting somewhere other than the file?

    I seriously would rather bring all my files onto my computer and out of OneDrive. They seem to go into OneDrive randomly, and I can't find them half of the time.

    Thank you,

    Penny

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2022-04-01T01:00:26+00:00

    I think so. I got on the OneDrive.live.com and signed in -- I'm signed into Microsoft 365 and using it on Word, etc.

    Is there anywhere else to sign in?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Diane Poremsky MVP 17,526 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-04-01T01:06:11+00:00

    Is there a OneDrive icon in the tray or overflow (the ^ icon) ? If yes, click on it. That should either sign you in automatically or bring up the sign in dialog.

    If its not in the tray type onedrive on the start menu and open it.

    This screenshot is from a computer that is not signed into OneDrive - I purposely ignored the 'not signed in' dialog when I booted it so I could see if it matched your screenshot.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments