In technology, clinging to the past is deadly. Microsoft long ago moved on from Briefcase, and you should too. Does anyone know what causes this briefcase problem? How to disable that or fix the 'open with' problem permanently ('Choose default apps by file type' is completely ignored)?īriefcase is old technology. The non-problematic computers have an older version of Windows 10 so one suspicion is that this problem could be specific to 21H1. Other computers have the same exact thing (files under synced OneDrive folder) without the briefcase. The strange thing is this briefcase file status only happens on one of my computers. That converts the file to a completely normal file without problems (but converts back to Work if copied under the OneDrive folder). It is possible to copy such file to a normal folder and then right-click, File ownership, Personal. Such file's File ownership is my employer's company.

There is also an extra 5-second delay before the open with window appears. So every time a 'Work' file is opened it asks what program to open with, defaulting to some unwanted program. No matter the file type is defined, 'open with' will not remember the choice the next time. In the local OneDrive folder, almost all files have a brown briefcase icon, which means the file is a Work file under Windows Information Protection. Prior to Windows 10 (and Windows 8), It's accessed by right-clicking on any blank area, selecting New and then Briefcase as Illustrated below.On a Windows 10 21H1 computer I have a corporate installation with OneDrive set up to sync with the cloud. Any changes made to the files In the Briefcase folders, will synchronize and update accordingly. You then copy that folder to another computer.

You create a Briefcase folder on your computer and place some files. So what exactly Is Briefcase? Without the tech jargon, It's just like any other folder on your computer, but with synchronizing capabilities. Please Note: As of Windows 10 Build 14942, Briefcase has been completely removed so If you're running this build and above, this tutorial will not work. As such, In this tutorial, I will show you how to add the Briefcase feature back Into Windows 10. In Windows 10 however, It's no longer available but It can still be created.

Since the release of Windows 95 right through to Windows 7, a built-In utility named Briefcase allows you to store and synchronize files between two or more computers, as well as removable media such as a USB flash drive.

New briefcase icon