I cannot open onedrive files on my laptop, but I can open them on my desktop. On my laptop, files are marked with a file box icon.

Question

I have a Onedrive business account. On my desktop, I can access all files on Onedrive. When I open the same Onedrive account on my laptop I can see my files listed, but almost all have an icon of a file box overlaying the file icon. Those with a filebox cannot be opened. What do I need to do to open those files?

Answer 1

Hi @Edward McKenzie, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Thank you for reaching out regarding the issue you’re experiencing with your OneDrive for Business files. I appreciate you taking the time to describe the situation in detail. 

Based on your description, the behavior you’re seeing on your laptop is related to OneDrive Files On-Demand. The small box icon shown on most of your files indicates that these files are currently online-only. This means the files are visible in File Explorer, but the actual file content has not yet been downloaded to your laptop, which is why they cannot be opened. 

On your desktop, the files open successfully because they have already been downloaded and stored locally on that device. 

To access the files on your laptop, please try one of the following options: 

Option 1: Download specific files or folders 

• Open File Explorer and navigate to your OneDrive folder. 
• Right-click the file or folder showing the box icon. 
• Select “Always keep on this device.” 
• 
• Allow the file to download completely (the icon should change to a green checkmark). 
• Once completed, try opening the file again. 

Option 2: Confirm OneDrive is running and syncing 

• Click the OneDrive cloud icon in the system tray (bottom-right corner of your screen). 
• Ensure you are signed in with the correct OneDrive for Business account. 
• If syncing is paused, select Resume syncing and allow it to finish. 
• 

For additional information, you can refer to these articles: 

• Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Windows - Microsoft Support 
• What do the OneDrive icons mean? - Microsoft Support 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.  

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

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Answer 2

The issue you're experiencing with OneDrive files on your laptop, where files are marked with a file box icon, indicates that those files are likely set as "online-only". This means that they are not downloaded to your laptop and can only be accessed when you are connected to the internet.

To resolve this issue and open those files, you can try the following steps:

1. Ensure you are connected to the internet. The files need to be downloaded from OneDrive to your laptop.
2. Change the file settings: You can right-click on the file or folder and select "Always keep on this device" to download the file to your laptop.
3. Check your OneDrive settings: Make sure that your OneDrive sync settings are configured correctly to allow files to be downloaded. You can do this by right-clicking the OneDrive cloud icon in the system tray, selecting "Settings," and checking the sync options.
4. Update Windows and OneDrive: Ensure that both your Windows operating system and OneDrive application are up to date, as updates can resolve syncing issues.

If you continue to have problems, you may want to check the OneDrive support documentation for additional troubleshooting steps.

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References:

• "Can't open online-only file" error when opening a file in OneDrive
• "There is a problem with your account, please try again later" when you open Office documents from OneDrive or SharePoint Online