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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.
A Microsoft file hosting and synchronization service.
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.
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
Okay, so i did fix it myself, just one question, are is your onedrive connected? Because that was my problem
And again I ask, what about the other icon(s)? My entire desktop is on OneDrive, and sometimes all the icons on all my desktop files and folders are OK (ie, green circle with white checkmark inside), sometimes they all have the brown box, and sometimes (like right now) they all have 2 blue curved arrows arranged to make a circle. Many of my desktop items are folders, and I have never tried to look thru all of their contents in quick succession, but any time I HAVE looked into a folder, the contained files and subfolders have always had the green circle with the white checkmark, regardless of what icon is showing on the top-level folder (on the desktop). And anytime I have looked, my "OneDrive - Personal" icon in my "Taskbar corner" says "Up to date". Isn't there a list with explanations somewhere? Geesh!
(Full disclosure: Unlike some of the other reports on this thread, I have never seen an actual PROBLEM associated with these mystery icons ... so I'm a whiner. But still, maybe the mystery icons are telling me about a problem that I don't see. And in any case, THERE SHOULD BE A LIST! I looked for a list several months ago, but was unsuccessful, which is why I first got involved with this thread, hoping for quick resolution -- HAH!)
PS: An hour later (after the above), I noticed the case where NONE of the files and folders on my desktop have ANY icon attached to them. But inside the several folders on my desktop that I just how checked, ALL files and subfolders still have the green circle with white checkmark.
Can we get an answer to the question - what does it mean?
Replying to myself because the next morning all the boxes were gone. This does not give me any confidence that something was "fixed" however.
Just unnerving Window random behaviors.