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
    2025-01-20T15:48:22+00:00

    No 'Smart sync'

    Have you tried unlinking one drive with file explorer and then relinking again? My Sync options appeared after that. (see Microsoft's guidance on syncing one drive troubleshooting for guidance about how to do this).

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-20T15:44:12+00:00

    Thanks very much. I tried unlinking one drive then relinked it and those brown boxes were gone.

    Excellent - glad to hear that was helpful, Frances. :-)

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-01-20T14:20:21+00:00

    No 'Smart sync'

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-19T22:37:55+00:00

    Thanks very much. I tried unlinking one drive then relinked it and those brown boxes were gone.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-12-12T16:21:12+00:00

    (replying to orig so people don't have to scroll)

    1. Open File Explorer (easiest way is to hit the Windows {4 squares} button then type "File Explorer")
    2. In the left pane, right click on your OneDrive (in my case, it's named "MyName - personal")
    3. Scroll down to and click on "more options"
    4. Click on "Always keep on this device"

    It'll take a minute or two to update all your files.

    I'm sure there are better ways to make these files accessible without actually keeping them on the device, but I don't know how.

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