Temp files

[Invisible]

Word has a habit of creating temp files - files in the
same directory as a Word document, with names like
~WRL3980.TMP

There are files like this on our fileserver. Some are new,
and some are several years old - presumably Word "forgot"
to delete them. And because they're hidden files, no one
but me knows they're there.

My question: is it safe to delete them? Does Word actually
need them once the file has been closed?

(Word 97 and Word 2000 if it makes any difference.)

Thanks.

 

[Invisible]

-----Original Message-----
Delete them!
See

http://www.gmayor.dsl.pipex.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashe
s.htm

Thanks for the website!

I presume that if Word is currently using something I'll
get one of those "sharing violation" messages when I try
to delete? (Remember, these are files on a fileserver, so
I can't see who else is using them!)

Thanks.

PS. The website seems a little unclear over whether
deleting the temp files enhances or degrades your ability
to recover documents lost in a crash...

 

[Graham Mayor]

http://www.gmayor.dsl.pipex.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashe
s.htm

Thanks for the website!

I presume that if Word is currently using something I'll
get one of those "sharing violation" messages when I try
to delete? (Remember, these are files on a fileserver, so
I can't see who else is using them!)

Thanks.

PS. The website seems a little unclear over whether
deleting the temp files enhances or degrades your ability
to recover documents lost in a crash...

You should not be able to delete any temporary files that are currently
locked due to them being in use, but it should be pretty clear from the file
dates which have passed their sell by date.

Surely you have your network set up so each user has his/her own document
storage location? This should allow you to create log-on scripts that delete
orphaned temp files, so that the problem does not recur.

Deleting the indicated temp files neither enhances nor degrades the ability
to recover documents lost in a crash. It does, however enhance the ability
to keep Word running sweetly.

The autorecover function is highly overrated. You would do better to train
your users to save often and have the backup file option set. Word does
provide a tool to remind users to save - and it can be used to make that
save. The links are available from the favourites page of my web site.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.dsl.pipex.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

 

[Roady]

Run a script at night. The files must be closed then
(well, in most organisations that is) so no sharing
violation errors

 

[Invisible]

You should not be able to delete any temporary files that
are currently

locked due to them being in use, but it should be pretty clear from the file
dates which have passed their sell by date.

OK. That's what I figured...

Surely you have your network set up so each user has his/her own document
storage location? This should allow you to create log-on scripts that delete
orphaned temp files, so that the problem does not recur.

Well... I don't know what users have in their personal
areas... but a large part of are work in prepairing Word
documents for other companies, so we have a huge "shared
area" which contains dozens of Word documents - and a
handful of temp files dotted around. It's not that many
really, and they're not all that big, so I recon manual
cleaning now and then should be fine.

Deleting the indicated temp files neither enhances nor degrades the ability
to recover documents lost in a crash. It does, however enhance the ability
to keep Word running sweetly.

Right... that's what I was unsure about. Thanks.

The autorecover function is highly overrated. You would do better to train
your users to save often and have the backup file option set. Word does
provide a tool to remind users to save - and it can be used to make that
save. The links are available from the favourites page of

my web site.

I was under the impression that Word could already be set
up to "autosave" at a given interval - although having
said that, the only thing I can find in the options screen
is the "Save AutoRecovery info every..." setting. Is this
the same thing? I honestly thought Word already did this
stuff without extra macros...

As far as backup files... well, then we would just end up
with twice as much data on our fileserver, because those
users would never ever delete the backups. And it still
doesn't help if Word crashes - you still loose work.

As for regular saving - yes, this clearly is the way to go.

Thanks.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Invisible wrote:

I was under the impression that Word could already be set
up to "autosave" at a given interval - although having
said that, the only thing I can find in the options screen
is the "Save AutoRecovery info every..." setting. Is this
the same thing? I honestly thought Word already did this
stuff without extra macros...

There is no autosave function in Word, other than the macro I referred you
to. Save autorecovery information does not autosave the document. It is
supposed to get your file back automatically if Word crashes. It promises
more than it delivers.

As far as backup files... well, then we would just end up
with twice as much data on our fileserver, because those
users would never ever delete the backups. And it still
doesn't help if Word crashes - you still loose work.

You can clear down backup files regularly, but they are most desirable while
working.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.dsl.pipex.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The backup files would be helpful (if people ever had them) when you make
changes to a file intending to Save As and then instead carelessly Save and
Close (thereby making Undo inoperable), or when you save a file over another
file unintentionally. We see these sad stories here all the time. If you
have a "Backup of <filename>.wbk" file, you can get back either the original
file or at least a near version of it. I agree that accumulation of .wbk
files is a problem, and from time to time I have to remind myself to do a
clear-out, but they have saved my bacon just often enough to be worth the
trouble for me.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The Undo stack wouldn't have saved that, but if he had Track Changes enabled
and didn't Accept All Changes...

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

 

[Klaus Linke]

[Reposted because the news server was down]

As far as backup files... well, then we would just end up
with twice as much data on our fileserver, because those
users would never ever delete the backups. And it still
doesn't help if Word crashes - you still loose work.

At least a user looses the work he did in the current Word session only.

In the early 80's (when storage space was much more expensive), I worked on
DEC VAX machines at a university.
These machines automatically kept a backup of every version of any file
(though I'm not sure if it was a general property of the OS, or an
administrator's setting).

A user was allotted a certain amount of disk space (I think 20 MByte, which
was a lot in those times), and had do clean up himself when he had used it
up.

It may be nostalgia, but I often wish Windows had such a setting...

Regards,
Klaus