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

Hi,

I'm a member of the Word engineering team investigating this issue.

I had some questions I was hoping those encountering this issue could answer to help us.

1. What version of Office and OSX do you have?   Do you recall the earliest build of Office that you saw this issue?
2. Do you have any of the following software installed?   MacKeeper, software from SmithMicro (ex. StuffIt), any sort of software that actively scans files or attempts to clean up disk space
3. The error mentions a filename like “Word Work File <letter>{...}.tmp”.   What <letter>’s have you seen the error for?   (The letter indicates the type of temporary file that it is.  For example, “S” is a Scratch file. For more info, you can look at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/211632).
4. Under what circumstances have you seen the error? For example,
   • Does it only show after Word has been running for a long time or after opening a lot of documents?
   • Does it only show when working with large/complex documents?
5. Are you using a custom Normal.dotm file?
6. Do you have any Add-ins installed?  See under "Tools / Templates and Add-ins...".
7. On your Mac, what kind of user account are you logged in as?   Administrator? Standard?   You can check under "System Preferences / Users & Groups". On the left you should see "Current User" with your account name and type of account.
8. Do any of the following seem to ease the issue?
   • Launch Word (or Outlook if that's where you've hit the issue). Quit cleanly (i.e. don't Force Quit). Launch and quit once more.
   • Rebooting your Mac

Thanks,

David

I wanted to share some info with you that I hope is not too off-topic. I want to point out that I experience similar "disk related" issues with other Microsoft applications as well, so this maybe be a manifestation of an issue that is not unique to Word.

• Frequently when I launch Excel, I get an error that I cannot create a new work file because my startup disk is out of space (I have plenty of available space). I can quit and re-launch Excel to work around this.
• Often when I come back to my computer after it's been asleep, I find a Skype error message that I have been signed out due to a disk "I/O error," and I cannot log back in without quitting and re-launching Skype.

As for the Word issue, it's been a bit more egregious because I've twice lost data when trying to save a document.

I've never experienced a crash or disk-related error message with any non-Microsoft application on my Mac. I've also gone so far as to reformat my drive and install a fresh copy of OS X 10.11 but I began getting the errors again later the same day.

Here are some answers to your questions.

1. Office 2016 Word 15.25, OS X El Capitan 10.11.
2. No.
3. I've only ever seen "S."
4. Usually after Word has been open for a longer period. I can't reproduce the error right after a reboot for example. But at some point (perhaps after my computer sleeps for a period of time) Word gets into this state where it seems to function okay, but using the "undo" function, or sometimes just editing or saving a document, results in the "disk errors."
5. No.
6. No.
7. Administrator.
8. Those steps temporarily pause the issue but it always returns.

Response;

1. Latest versions of both IOS and Office.  Started happening with 15. 22 or prior. Can't recall exactly.  Bought computer in February 2016.  It started playing up in May. 
2. No
3. Those I have taken a photo of say File S - among the other error messages - ranging from make sure you have permissions to write files to autorecover in location you have specified - as wel as there is serious disk error on the start up disk etc etc etc.
4. Error was triggered when file was open for a length of time, when I tried to edit - the triggers were evolving rather than all at once - started with serious disk error and then serious disk error on file word work file S... and then when i went to 15.24 when I opened up a file from the desktop it triggered these error messages straight away  - worse than before.  I seemed to have it resolved by end of may but the change to 15.24 has set it off again.  

Also when I would quit word -the screen would frequently go black and then after a few seconds come back on again. 

Excell is also crashing and full of bugs - can't use it. 

5. Not sure  - just using word.
6. no - hardly anything on this laptop due to this problem.  Just trying to write my thesis and browse internet for research. So absolutely nothing on this computer that could be interfering in the way of apps.
7. Administrator
8. not really.  Maybe but its so random that it may clear something but it doesn't resolve.

I have to use Google docs - if this doesn't get resolved i will seek a refund for office. too much risk to work with severe implictions if i lose work.

Hello Steven,

I have sent a private message, please reply in the private message area with the requested information.

Thank you.