Red exclamation mark on thumbnail

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Office Community and We will be glad to assist you with your concern. I understand that some of the Excel files in the documents folders show with an exclamation mark.

What is the file format of these Excel files saved on the computer?
The exclamation mark in the Excel files icon usually represents macros enabled files. The file extension for these type of files is *.xlsm

Create a sample excel file and save it in the Excel macro format and check the thumbnail how it represents.

You may also refer to the following thread which discusses about the similar issue:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-excel/meaning-of-icons-on-recent-file-list-in-excel/5074dbac-2d44-e011-9767-d8d385dcbb12

If these are not macro enabled Excel files, then open any of these Excel file and save it as Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) format and verify results.

If the issue persists, reply and we will be glad to assist you further.

Thank You

Thanks Srinivasu.

First, my apologies, let me be more precise with the 'offending' marking. It is actually a white exclamation mark within a red circular background.

Second, after following your suggestion, I see that thumbnails for both existing xlsx and a newly-created xlsm file show the identical marking.

In addition, when I save the newly-created xlsm file to xlsx format, the marking persists.

The files in the Documents folder that do not show the marking are xls.

Interestingly, when I delete a marked file of either format, the marking has disappeared from the thumbnail when I view it in the Recycle Bin.

Your thoughts?

Hi,

Thank you for replying.

It looks like the white exclamation mark may be part of online sync software which backups regularly, however, in this case there might be some issues or some other reasons.

Do you see this similar icon for any other Office application related files saved on the same folder?

Upload a screenshot of the Excel icon for which you have white exclamation mark within a red circular background. Refer the following thread on how to upload a screenshot to SkyDrive:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/feedback/forum/suggest/how-to-insert-an-image-into-a-post-at-answers/bdae0306-c3cb-4d31-ace9-7281ea1a8a73

Thank You

Hello,

I am not using auto sync for any of my files.

I opened a variety of Office 2013 files in the same folder. The only file to show the exclamation mark was Powerpoint.

The procedure for Skydrive seems a little daunting. Is this really necessary?

Thanks