OneDrive files suddenly have a brown box icon on the lower left-hand corner. What does this mean?

Anonymous
2021-10-25T10:24:49+00:00

I use OneDrive's File-on-demand feature.

Somehow out of nowhere, my online-only files (files marked with cloud icon) in my OneDrive folder are marked with this brown box symbol in the lower left-hand corner of each file icons. What does this icon mean?

Many options in the right-click menu are also missing from all files in the OneDrive folder (both with and without brown box icon), notably the option to control OneDrive file-on-demand like "Free up space" and "Always keep file on this device".

The "Status" column that shows the file-on-demand icons like Cloud & green checkmark in Details view is also missing.

I have just encountered this today for the first time. What does this icon brown box icon mean? I've tried searching and can't find any explanation.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | Windows

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
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2021-12-10T19:36:54+00:00

Hi,

I am not sure if everyone has this app, but I had the One Drive App, pre-installed for my new windows 11 device. On the app, just hit sync. Doing this resolved the brown box icon issue for me.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Was this answer helpful?

60+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2021-12-08T19:12:16+00:00

Okay, so i did fix it myself, just one question, are is your onedrive connected? Because that was my problem

Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

88 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-12-24T02:24:21+00:00

    These brown boxes just showed up for me, not just on OneDrive files, but app icons, shortcuts, etc. on the Desktop.

    Not on all, but a lot. I opened OneDrive in Internet Explorer and now all the brown box icons are white boxes with blue arrows pointing to the upper right corner of the white box.

    I have no idea why they are there or what they are for. OneDrive has been broken in my Windows install since Win 10 and now I'm on Win 11 and OneDrive tech support could never fix it.

    Microsoft, thy name is not Consistency. Sure, let's trust all our important files to the OneDrive Cloud ... I dare you.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-12-10T20:33:33+00:00

    Thank you so much! I sincerely appreciate the time you've taken to reply. Extremely helpful. Thanx again. Patrick

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-11-18T17:53:37+00:00

    what's the next step??

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments