An open community 
of Macintosh users,
for Macintosh users.

FineTunedMac Dashboard widget now available! Download Here

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Word Work File
#22541 07/16/12 03:58 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Every so often I get a temporary (.tmp) Word Work File showing up on the desktop which cannot be dumped in the Trash or otherwise deleted — in fact, the message which pops up when I try to drag it to the Trash states explicitly that the file cannot be moved to the Trash because it cannot be deleted.

Weird.

Even closing Word and relaunching it doesn't get rid of the so-called .tmp file. Restarting the iMac does seem to do the job, but I'd rather have a less drastic solution.

I can't even find where such things are stored so that I might dump the entire temp file for Word.

Restarting the iMac does seem to do the job, but I'd rather have a less drastic solution.

Any suggestions?

FYI: I'm running Office for Mac 2011, updated to version 14.2.3.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22564 07/18/12 01:23 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Really?! No one has a clue? That's a first for assembled FTMers.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22565 07/18/12 01:46 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Take a look at this thread on Microsoft Answers


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Work File
joemikeb #22566 07/18/12 02:25 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
That wouldn't seem to apply.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22567 07/18/12 02:28 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
you mentioned closing and relaunching Word, what about quitting and trying to delete the file before relaunching?


MacBook 2.4 Ghz · 4 Gb ram · 10.7.5
stuff I'm interested in
iPhone 4s 7.0.2
Re: Word Work File
roger #22568 07/18/12 03:59 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Tried that and several other versions with the same result ... no luck moving or getting rid of the .tmp file (document).

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22570 07/18/12 04:08 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
try repairing the hdd with diskutility

see what terminal says when you try to rm the file

file may be open/in use. use lsof -nP to check to see if something has the file open.

can also try stat'ing the file to see if something informative shows up there


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Word Work File
Virtual1 #22572 07/18/12 04:22 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Thanks, but I understood absolutely none of your suggestions other than the first (which I can't figure out how to do since it isn't an option under Disk Utility, at least not on my iMac).

Put differently: I don't have any idea how to troubleshoot anything on other than a trivial level, and Pogue's Missing Manual doesn't help in that regard either.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22574 07/18/12 07:26 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Quote:
see what terminal says when you try to rm the file
Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities). Type rm and leave a space. Drag the file into the Terminal window; the path to it will appear. Now, press Return. Does the file disappear or does Terminal give you a message of some sort? What's the message?

FYI, rm is Unix for remove.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Word Work File
grelber #22575 07/18/12 07:33 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
I believe that you've got to boot into your recovery partition to run Disk Utility.

Edit: i.e. "Repair Disk"

Last edited by artie505; 07/18/12 09:33 PM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Word Work File
grelber #22576 07/18/12 07:54 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
This Google search reveals several things...
  1. You are far from the only person having problems deleting Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook etc.) .TMP or work files
  2. A lot has been written about how to delete these files but no one has found or at least suggested anything resembling a permanent "fix"
  3. The problem has been around since long before Office 2011 and the offending code has apparently been carried over from release to release.
  4. The problem is most likely embedded deep in the Microsoft Office code and a permanent fix will be up to Microsoft and not the user.
Hopefully one or more of those many articles/posts will gave you enough understandable information to enable you to "do it yourself" when the problem recurs and it will recur.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Work File
joemikeb #22577 07/18/12 09:21 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Jon: Part of the problem is that one can't drag/move the offending file anywhere. It sits frozen on the desktop.

joemikeb: That provides the answer, namely that the only way to get rid of the offending file is to restart. Ergo no less drastic way to deal with the issue. {sigh} Time to move on.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22578 07/18/12 09:46 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
I wonder if you boot in to Safe Boot mode, and then try deleting the offending file from there, that would put things to right.

It seems (to me) that should work. But does it?


Harv
27" i7 iMac (10.13.6), iPhone Xs Max (12.1)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Word Work File
Pendragon #22579 07/18/12 09:56 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
What would be the point, Harv, when a simple restart clears the file?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Word Work File
artie505 #22586 07/19/12 08:28 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
You're right, Artie.

No doubt the ravages of time and tide caused me to miss the part about a simple restart fixing the problem.


Harv
27" i7 iMac (10.13.6), iPhone Xs Max (12.1)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Word Work File
grelber #22587 07/19/12 10:05 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Originally Posted By: grelber
Jon: Part of the problem is that one can't drag/move the offending file anywhere. It sits frozen on the desktop.
Actually, dragging it into the Terminal window doesn't move it. That's just a shortcut for telling Terminal the path to the file (you could type it, of course, but this procedure obviates making a typo). Have you actually tried it?


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Word Work File
jchuzi #22588 07/19/12 10:41 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
grelber Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
No ... it can't be moved. If I try to drag and drop it, nothing is achieved, nothing happens, it stays stuck; not even a 'ghost' version of it moves. It's as though it's part of the background desktop picture. (Try moving a star in the galaxy.)
And because I've long since rebooted and gotten rid of it (at least this last one), I can't try any manipulations other than those already described.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #22591 07/19/12 05:32 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Originally Posted By: grelber
That provides the answer, namely that the only way to get rid of the offending file is to restart. Ergo no less drastic way to deal with the issue. {sigh} Time to move on.

There in a nutshell is one of the reasons why, other than in the Parallels Desktop environment, I no longer have any Microsoft code on my Macs. The only reason I have Parallels Desktop is to test web sites in Explorer.

I have not found a perfect replacement for Word but Mellel, NeoOffice, and Nisus Writer Pro, and Pages all do a decent job of importing and exporting .doc and .docx files.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Work File
joemikeb #34681 06/13/15 08:13 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
I use Onyx to delete naughty things that won't go away. It has a lot of goodies, like allowing you to resetting the links connecting files to programs, clearing mega-logs and caches, letting you set a custom log-in picture and message and Force Delete Trash. You get scary warnings before you do anything incredibly stupid but Ganbustein still got me out of a sticky place when I force deleted something that was on an external drive.

The only other thing I can think of is trying to designate through Word where it should keep the work files, then you don't have to see them at least. Or reinstall Word.

Re: Word Work File
grelber #34682 06/13/15 08:38 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Could how TM flags files under Lion as not temp be part of the issue? See Ganbustein's post under Changing Terminal Name string. A long shot...

Last edited by slolerner; 06/13/15 08:49 PM.

Moderated by  alternaut, dianne, dkmarsh 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.036s Queries: 55 (0.028s) Memory: 0.6706 MB (Peak: 0.8075 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 08:43:36 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS