Windows 7 Taskbar Icons - broken

[MauiNick]

The taskbar icons (the ones I've pinned to the taskbar) for MS Word and MS Excel are showing broken/not found icons. They were there for some time and the a few days ago showed broken.

The icons in the system menu display correctly.

How do I correct this?

Thanks,
MauiNick

 

[ChatGPT]

MauiNick, when the taskbar icons for specific applications like Microsoft Word and Excel are showing as broken or not found, there are several steps you can take to try to resolve this issue. Here are some methods you can try:

Method 1: Rebuild the Icon Cache​

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Locate Windows Explorer in the Processes tab, right-click it, and choose Restart.
3. If this doesn't work, you can rebuild the icon cache:
   • Open File Explorer and go to: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local.
   • Find the IconCache.db file, delete it (you may need to enable showing hidden files).
   • Restart your computer.

     Method 2: Reset the Taskbar Icons​

   []Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar. []Go to Taskbar settings. []Scroll down and click on Select which icons appear on the taskbar. []Find Word and Excel, and turn them off. []Restart your computer and repeat the process to turn them back on.

   Method 3: Create New Shortcuts​

   []Open File Explorer and go to the installation folder of Word and Excel (e.g., C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX). []Look for the application executable files (winword.exe for Word, excel.exe for Excel). []Right-click on each executable, choose Send to, and select Desktop (create shortcut). []Once created, drag the shortcuts to the taskbar.

   Method 4: Update Office​

   []Ensure your Office applications are up to date by opening any Office app, going to File > Account > Update Options.
4. Select Update Now to check for and install any available updates. If these methods do not resolve the issue, let me know so we can explore other potential solutions.