Green Checks on Win 11 Desktop Icons

If the green check marks on your icons on the Desktop look like one of the icons indicated further down on this link, than that indicates you have OneDrive enabled on your system to sync your files to the cloud, and the green check mark indicates the files are successfully synced, by default OneDrive syncs the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-do-the-onedrive-icons-mean-11143026-8000-44f8-aaa9-67c985aa49b3

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A. Green check marks on desktop icons usually appear when OneDrive marks files as synced and up to date. This happens when your Desktop folder is backed up by OneDrive.

Additionally, to remove the green check marks, you can turn off Desktop backup:

1. Open OneDrive > click the gear icon > Settings > Sync and back up > Manage back up > turn Desktop off.
2. If you want to keep backup but remove overlays, please make sure you already tried right‑click the OneDrive icon > Settings > Account > Unlink this PC.
3. If your icons come from another cloud app (Dropbox, Google Drive), open that app’s settings and disable icon overlays.

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