pictures come up as icons and not pictures

Welcome Kathy Reynolds to the Q&A forum.

Based on your description, the image files synced from OneDrive are appearing as icons in File Explorer rather than displaying photo thumbnails.

Please try the steps below to refresh thumbnail display in File Explorer to see if it helps:

1. Open File Explorer > go to the folder containing your photos
2. Select ⋯ (More options) > Options

4. Open the View tab

In the View tab, make sure Always show icons, never thumbnails is unchecked

If it’s already unchecked, try the following to refresh the setting:

Check the option

Restart File Explorer or restart Windows

Go back and uncheck the option again

Then reopen the folder and check whether photo thumbnails are displaying correctly.

Hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes!

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In Windows File Explorer, picture files synced with OneDrive can appear as generic icons if the view is set to show icons/details instead of thumbnails.

To see the photos instead of icons:

1. Open File Explorer and browse to the OneDrive folder where the pictures are stored.
2. On the ribbon (or toolbar), change the view to a thumbnail view such as Large icons or Extra large icons.
3. If thumbnails still do not appear, open View options and make sure any setting like “Always show icons, never thumbnails” is turned off.

The OneDrive sync status icons (clouds, check marks, etc.) will still appear on top of the thumbnails, but the files themselves will display as photo previews once a thumbnail view is enabled.

References:

• Sync files with OneDrive in Windows
• What do the OneDrive icons mean?