'Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable.' What is the simplest way to resolve this please!

Anonymous
2012-01-11T10:55:22+00:00

When I open Word I get this message every time: 'Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable.' Word then crashes very often without autosaving. 

I've found many people asking this question but I utterly do not understand the answers people have given them! Is there a simple way to resolve this - I know literally nothing about computers! Please help with the easiest solution possible.

Many thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-01-11T20:35:19+00:00

When I open Word I get this message every time: 'Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable.' Word then crashes very often without autosaving. 

I've found many people asking this question but I utterly do not understand the answers people have given them! Is there a simple way to resolve this - I know literally nothing about computers! Please help with the easiest solution possible.

Many thanks!

The error message "Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable". Can be caused by incorrect registry values in the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\User Shell Folders.

Click Start and in the start search field, type

Regedit

and press enter.

In the registry editor, browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\User Shell Folders

On the right hand pane, check the value data for Cache.

It has to be %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files.

If it is different, double click on Cache and type:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

under value data and click ok. Close the registry and  restart the computer and check if it works.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-02-04T21:10:16+00:00

    When I open Word I get this message every time: 'Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable.' Word then crashes very often without autosaving. 

    I've found many people asking this question but I utterly do not understand the answers people have given them! Is there a simple way to resolve this - I know literally nothing about computers! Please help with the easiest solution possible.

    Many thanks!

    The TEMP file fills up if you have many or large files. It then cleans out the file and sets up a new TEMP file, but if you are not running the computer as the Administrator, you may lose your "Permissions" to use the temp file. all you have to do is run the computer as an  "Administrator" and there will not be any more problem. You can copy all your programs/files over to Administrator and run it without issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-02-02T03:59:59+00:00

    No definitely not.  Just single click.  It is only in the past few months that this has got worse.  I've had MS2010 since it first came out and it was fine.  Only after a few months did this start to happen but the sites would still allow me to send the file - even with the error message - however more recently, probably within the past month or 2 months it has got worse and the sites won't upload the document for me to send.  Its not a problem when trying to do the same thing with the same documents on my mac.  (ie; emailed myself the CV & Cover letter and saved on my mac which has office 2011 for mac installed and then used the same process to apply for a job.  The files were uploaded onto the site and sent without any problem)  I can only suspect that its something to do with one of the recent updates or patches in MS 2010 which were updated on my pc which may have changed things???

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-01T21:30:00+00:00

    Nope. Just tried it again. Single click on the document & I get 3 windows - same error msg.

     This never happened with Word 2007.

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  4. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-02-01T09:56:07+00:00

    Are you sure that you are not double clicking on the file when you select it?

    Using an Android tablet that does not have any Microsoft software on it, I was able to go to my seek,com.au account and then use the Choose file button to navigate to a Word document that I had copied to a micro SD card and then press the Upload button and load another piece of garbage into my SEEK profile.

    --
    Hope this helps.

    Doug Robbins - Word MVP,
    Email: dkr[atsymbol]mvps[dot]org
    Posted via the Community Bridge

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