It has been observed that conflicts with the default program settings in Windows can cause plain white icons to be displayed on your ‘.docx‘ files. As such, you may not see any Microsoft Word icon. If Microsoft Word icon is blank or missing, & not showing correctly or properly on .doc & .docx document files of Office on Windows 11/10, then you can try the solutions outlined below in the post.
Word icon is not showing on Document files
In most cases, a simple computer restart or a refresh of the folder can resolve the problem. Press F5 and see. You should also check and ensure that the file extension of such files is either .doc or .docx. If that doesn’t help, then read further.
1] Configure .docx files to open with ‘winword.exe’
Right-click on a DOCX file and select ‘Open with…’ option.
Next, when prompted with ‘How do you want to open this file’ message, choose ‘More apps’ option.
Now, scroll down and check the box marked against the ‘Always use this app to open .docx files’ option.
Click on the ‘Look for another app on this PC’ link and select the WINWORD.exe application, from one of the following paths, according to the installed Office version and click Open:
- Word 2024/21/19/16 (64-bit): C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
- Word 2024/21/19/16 (32-bit): C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
This should help.
3] Change Default Word icon in Registry
Before you begin, do create a system restore point first.
Now type ‘regedit’ in search box and press Enter to open Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following path in the left pane:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.12\DefaultIcon
Double-click at Default value at the right pane and according to your Word version and architecture (32 or 64 bit), copy-paste the corresponding value in the value data box:
- For Word 2024/21/19/16 (64-bit) keep it as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\wordicon.exe,13
- For Word 2024/21/19/16 (32-bit) Keep it as C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\wordicon.exe,13
The path will depend on your Office version.
When done, hit the Enter key. After that, close Registry Editor and restart your computer.
The problem should be resolved.
3] Rebuild the Icon cache
At times, icons of various files may not appear due to the cache problem. Therefore, you could rebuild the icon cache to fix this issue on your computer. Rebuild the Icon cache and see if it helps. You may use our Thumbnail and Icon Cache Rebuilder to do so with a click.
Read: How to insert a Section Break in a Word document
4] Fix Office apps
If the Office icons are blank after installing Office from the Microsoft Store, then Open Settings > Apps. Find Microsoft Office Desktop Apps in the app list, select it and click on Advanced options. Click Fix. Then wait till the process is over and then restart your computer. If the problem persists, repeat these steps but click Reset instead of Fix.
5] Repair Office Installation
If none of the aforementioned solutions is working for you, you may need to consider repairing your Office installation on your computer.
How do I get my Microsoft Word icon back?
To get your Microsoft Word icons back in Windows 11/10, you need to rebuild the icon cache, change the default Word icon in Registry, etc. Finally, you may try repairing your Office installation on your computer using the official tool.
Why is docx icon not showing?
At times, Microsoft Word may not show the icon of files on your Windows 11/10 computer. It mainly happens when there are some internal conflicts in your system files. However, you may be able to fix the issue by following the guides mentioned above.
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