Office Icons are all missing/replaced by generic white icons

Anonymous
2010-08-03T08:01:12+00:00

For some reason all my office products (word, excel, outlook, access etc.) icons in the start menu and desktop task bar have all been replaced by the generic white icons.

I am unable to uninstall or repair this. I believe (from what I've read on the internet) that it is connected to the "C:\windows\installer" folder and the Office installer files.

Can this problem be solved without having to re-install windows ( as that is the only way I think its possible to be albe to reset the office suite).

Cheers,

Jurgens

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-09-24T16:39:18+00:00

I had the same issue as everyone here and I think I've FINALLY figured out a solution!

Go to c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office 14

Right click on each program icon individually and unpin from BOTH your Taskbar and/or Start Menu. (e.g. EXCEL.EXE, MSACCESS.EXE, MSPUB.EXE, OUTLOOK.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, etc.)

Then right click and select  "Pin to Start Menu" (not to Taskbar).

Do this for each program you want to eventually make it onto your Taskbar.

Now go to Start and then for each program (that should now show in start menu with the actual Microsoft Office icon), right click and select "Pin to Taskbar".

You can then Remove each one from the Start Menu if you wish by right clicking again and selecting "Remove from this List".

Your icons should now be back to their original format.

I've rebooted my system several times so far and the icons have remained.

Hopefully this will work for everyone else as well!

Good Luck!!!

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-01T16:11:04+00:00

    Wwo! --- it worked for me. Thx!

    Small things like that annoy me even though the functionality of Outlook and Excel were still there.

    Guessing which was which or "hovering" over that non-descript icon was annoying.

    Thanks for your solution!!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-20T08:32:41+00:00

    This worked for me:

    From the Start menu, open Microsoft Office->Microsoft Office 2010 Tools->Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Click Help and select Detect and Repair. Select 'Restore my shortcuts while reparing' and click Start. After this all my Office icons came back!

    this worked for me, very easy and only took a minute.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-17T20:34:12+00:00

    Just got this problem - obviously a bit later than everyone else, and not sure what triggered it.   Unfortunately, above didn't quite work for me, but it helped get to a solution.

    Right clicked on each of the programs, as described above, and then clicked on 'create a shortcut'.  Popup warned me that shortcut couldn't be created in the folder itself and did I want to create it on the desktop.  Responded 'yes', and shortcut - with correct icon - was duly placed on desktop.  Right clicked on the icon, and selected 'Pin to taskbar' - which it was.   Then I deleted the shortcut.  Job done.   Seems okay so far.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-23T20:50:10+00:00

    I had the same issue as everyone here and I think I've FINALLY figured out a solution!

    Go to c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office 14

    Right click on each program icon individually and unpin from BOTH your Taskbar and/or Start Menu. (e.g. EXCEL.EXE, MSACCESS.EXE, MSPUB.EXE, OUTLOOK.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, etc.)

    Then right click and select  "Pin to Start Menu" (not to Taskbar).

    Do this for each program you want to eventually make it onto your Taskbar.

    Now go to Start and then for each program (that should now show in start menu with the actual Microsoft Office icon), right click and select "Pin to Taskbar".

    You can then Remove each one from the Start Menu if you wish by right clicking again and selecting "Remove from this List".

    Your icons should now be back to their original format.

    I've rebooted my system several times so far and the icons have remained.

    Hopefully this will work for everyone else as well!

    Good Luck!!!

    Thanks friend - you're a life saver!

    Was this answer helpful?

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