What the Protection Badges Mean
Wherever a file appears — an email, a chat, your documents — a small shield tells you what Antivirus made of it.
The five badges
- Checking (your organization's colour, with a turning ring) — Antivirus is looking at the file right now. It opens as soon as it's cleared. You don't need to do anything.
- Protected (green, with a check mark) — Antivirus checked the file and found nothing harmful. Most lists only show this badge when you open the file, to keep things calm.
- Caution (amber) — the file is allowed, but it has something worth being careful with, usually macros: hidden automatic actions inside a Word or Excel document. Only turn macros on if you trust whoever sent it. Where you can, choose Open a Safe Copy, which opens the document without them.
- Blocked (red, with a lock) — Antivirus found something harmful. The file can't be opened, downloaded, forwarded or shared.
- Couldn't Check (grey, dashed) — the file is a zip or other archive locked with a password, so Antivirus couldn't look inside. Only open it if you know and trust whoever sent it.
No badge at all?
Some places don't show a badge yet. That doesn't mean a file wasn't checked: every file is checked before it's saved, whether or not a badge is shown.
A quick example
A lender emails your team a rate sheet as an Excel file with macros. It shows Caution. You choose Open a Safe Copy and read the rates without ever running the macros.
