There is a serious disk error on file ~Word Work File S{A1F41F30-FB84-B649-9F8A-F0A7D2698BBF}.tmp

Anonymous
2016-05-30T19:08:24+00:00

everytime i save a word file on my mac i get this message. 

i'm using ms office v15.22.1. 

Please advise. Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2016-10-04T03:10:48+00:00

I had this issue for many months and it was very frustrating--It was so frequent that I switched to Pages for a while. Since I have updated Word (running V 15.28 (160927)) for 2-3 weeks, I have not had 1 serious error. I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

I'm on a late 2013 MBA 11, running El Cap 10.11.6

I thought it might be helpful to read a post from someone who has had some good luck...

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Anonymous
2016-09-14T17:39:21+00:00

Hi everyone,

On 9/13/16, we released update 15.26 (160910), the September feature update for Office 2016 for Mac. Please install the update by clicking Help > Check for Updates > Check for Updates. Our engineering team has been intensively working on the ‘serious disk error’ issue and feel that this latest update will resolve it.

If you continue to experience problems, please reply to this thread with the following so that we can further isolate the cause:

  1. A screenshot of the About dialog (that shows the Office build number).
  2. A screenshot of the serious disk error dialog.
  3. The output of running ls ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/Temp from Terminal.
  4. The output of the command defaults read  com.microsoft.Word from Terminal if the issue happens in Word; or defaults read com.microsoft.Outlook if the issue happens in Outlook.

If you continue to experience the same ‘serious disk error’ issue that you did before installing the update, let us know and we will reach out to you in a private message to see if you’re willing to have an engineer speak to you directly to get it resolved.

If you experience any other file-related issues (other than the ‘serious disk error’), let us know that, too.

Again, we apologize for the frustration around this issue, and hope that this solves it.

Best,

-Erik, Office Newsroom

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP
    2016-08-01T15:22:12+00:00

    Uninstalling and reinstalling Office appears to have no effect on this problem. I would not recommend uninstalling or reinstalling Office.

    A solution that has worked for many is to set the AutoRecover file location (don't use a network location) in Word preferences. 

    Word Preferences > Personal Settings > File Locations

    Renaming the AutoRecover file is not a solution I noticed previously. Thanks for reporting that renaming the file does nothing with regard to solving the error message. I won't repeat the suggestion.

    A solution that has worked for many is to update to version 15.24 or later. Go to Word's Help menu and choose Check for Updates to install updates.

    As far as I can tell there are still a few users who have set the AutoRecover file location and have update 15.24 but who still experience this problem.

    At this point it would be useful to know what these users have in common with each other. What version of Mac OS do they have? Have they used Disk Utility to verify the startup volume? Have they reinstalled Mac OS?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-31T21:48:59+00:00

    I'm new to this forum - Having read all the threads on this problem, I can only ask - how is it possible that it has not yet been resolved????? Not a single solution proposed here works. My problem started as soon as I upgraded my MacBook Air's OS to El Capitan. I uninstalled and reinstalled MS Office. I checked permissions. Changed the name of the autorecover file. Upgraded from Office for Mac 2011 to the newest one. Then uninstalled and reinstalled that. I have all updates. You name it, I've done it. The only solutions that work for me are to:

    (1) Do "save as" instead of "save" and rename the file (sometimes every five minutes - this is insane and not a solution).

    (2) Reboot my computer. Not practical either, or I'd be rebooting it all day long. 

    Endless times in this thread, there have been requests for users to provide their particular details (when it happens, what system, etc). After all the answers people have provided over all this time, the problem continues.There is simply a problem on Microsoft's end that still hasn't been resolved. I find this unfathomable.

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  3. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP
    2016-07-30T13:44:38+00:00

    And, of course, you can't ignore the possibility that the message is accurate and there really is something wrong with your startup volume. If you've already checked the startup disk and know it's OK, then you can skip this. If you haven't tested it in a while, then you might want to let Disk Utility check it out for you.

    https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22243?locale=en_US

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