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randyleytan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2020
12
0
Hey everyone, so for a while, I have been noticing this issue with Word. Normally when you save a file it would look like this (I have Office 365):

Screen Shot 2020-09-11 at 9.01.39 AM.jpg


But ever since I Office on my Mac the icons for Word files look like this compared to the rest of the Office programs:

Screen Shot 2020-09-11 at 8.53.54 AM.jpg


Does anyone else have this problem? If so, and if you were able to fix it, how did you do it?
I know it more of an aesthetic issue because the software works just fine, but it is annoying to see the icon look like this while the rest save normally.

Thanks!
 

orbital~debris

macrumors 68020
Mar 3, 2004
2,281
5,995
UK, Europe
Does this issue apply to all Word documents?

On my Mac, if I deactivate the "Show icon preview" feature in Finder, I notice that Word documents of different vintages have different generic icons. The modern ones look like your first screenshot.

Also, does toggling the "Show icon preview" setting, via 'Show View Options', have any effect?
 

James_C

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2002
2,847
1,897
Bristol, UK
@randyleytan - You are correct your word files should have the default file icon
Screenshot 2020-09-11 at 14.06.41.png


What program do you have associated with your Word Files ? I wonder if it is an older version of word ? In any case you may be able to force a change by re-associating the files with word. To do this right click on any word file in the finder and choose get info.

Screenshot 2020-09-11 at 14.10.32.png


In the Opens with box click it and select 'Other' browse to the Microsoft Word Application in the Applications folder and choose Add.

Then select change all.

You may need to force a refresh by selecting a finder window and under View> Show View Options and change the icon size up and down to force a refresh.
 

randyleytan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2020
12
0
Does this issue apply to all Word documents?

On my Mac, if I deactivate the "Show icon preview" feature in Finder, I notice that Word documents of different vintages have different generic icons. The modern ones look like your first screenshot.

Also, does toggling the "Show icon preview" setting, via 'Show View Options', have any effect?
I have done that but it does not change anything sadly and yes, it happens with all word documents that are .docx.
 

randyleytan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2020
12
0
@randyleytan - You are correct your word files should have the default file icon View attachment 951979

What program do you have associated with your Word Files ? I wonder if it is an older version of word ? In any case you may be able to force a change by re-associating the files with word. To do this right click on any word file in the finder and choose get info.

View attachment 951981

In the Opens with box click it and select 'Other' browse to the Microsoft Word Application in the Applications folder and choose Add.

Then select change all.

You may need to force a refresh by selecting a finder window and under View> Show View Options and change the icon size up and down to force a refresh.
Have done this as well but, sadly again there were no changes made to how the icon looks. I am paying for Office 365 as I mentioned, so I believe and hope it is the newest version.
 

tyc0746

macrumors 6502
Apr 3, 2019
259
102
Liverpool, UK
Are you sure it's a .docx file and not a .doc file?

Have you tried changing it from one file type to another, to see if the icon changes?

If that doesn't work then maybe the icon cache/services is corrupt.

My icons for various Word file types/extensions are:
2020-09-14_13-12-53.jpg
 
Last edited:

randyleytan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2020
12
0
Are you sure it's a .docx file and not a .doc file?

Have you tried changing it from one file type to another, to see if the icon changes?

If that doesn't work then maybe the icon cache/services is corrupt.

My icons for various Word file types/extensions are:
View attachment 952742
Yup, I've tried saving as other types such as .dotx and .doc.
Interestingly .doc looks like this for me.

Screen Shot 2020-09-14 at 10.30.23 PM.jpg
 
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