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

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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

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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

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-10-25T13:29:17+00:00

    Hi BarnMTB,

    Thank you for posting your query in our community.

    Per your description, your OneDrive files have a brown box icon on the lower left-hand corner. May I know that will a window pop up when you open these files asking which program to open?

    If yes, to check if the OneDrive on your device is protected by Intune(Task manager > More details, right-click a column > Select columns > Enterprise context). Check if the OneDrive's Enterprise context shows your tenant like below:

    Best regards,

    Jazlyn

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-10-27T13:06:07+00:00

    Hi BarnMTB,

    If you still need further support, please do not hesitate to reply to me.

    Best regards,

    Jazlyn

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-11-15T13:57:09+00:00

    Have the same issue - above did not help

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