Office documents appear with an orange/yellow box in front of them. They won't open

Anonymous
2021-12-15T15:12:22+00:00

I recently upgraded to Windows 11 pro. I reviewing my locally stored documents, several of them have an altered ICON with what looks like a file storage box to the left of the standard application ICON. None of these files will open by double-clicking. I chatted with MS support this morning and the agent couldn't figure it out either. Fortunately, most of these documents are also on OneDrive, but I have >100 with this issue and it will take time to find and restore a working copy.

Has anyone seen this?

Thanks,

Tom

[Moved from Word / For business / Windows]

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-12-15T16:42:14+00:00

    Hello Tom,

    Sorry for the inconvenience caused at your end.

    From the icon you shared, I tried to search to understand the meaning of the icon but I couldn't find any reference or related article explaining the icon. Since you mentioned the problem happened after upgrading to Windows 11 Pro, I would like to know whether this problem happens to only Word documents or all files? In addition, as you have already contacted the support, can you please ticket number and sample Word document via Private Message? Here is the link to access private message.

    Best Regards,

    Chitrahaas

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-12-15T18:28:11+00:00

    I don't recognize that icon.

    .

    The icon did not exactly match any that showed up in an image search for "Word Icon". I only found a couple approximate matches, but one was on a Mac site, none on windows.

    The closest I've found is this one on a chinese site

    .

    I also found another similar, but not identical on a Mac question forum.

    The yellow blob looks like maybe a file box. Maybe with a key slot on the front ... ?

    .

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-12-15T22:06:16+00:00

    If you send me a copy of one of the document with which you have the problem, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-12-16T02:23:22+00:00

    It would appear they've been archived or compressed in some way. Do you have some file management software that might be doing this?

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-12-16T12:18:56+00:00

    No, the only thing that changed was the move to Windows 11, and only a small number of files (less than 200) were affected. They were a mix of Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, and in a few subfolders.

    Again, I've never seen this icon image before, and neither had the Microsoft support tech I spoke with. Yes, it appears to be a banker's box, but in searching the web I've yet to come across this graphical representation.

    The mystery remains. . . .

    Tom

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