Graham Mayor

... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a
donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first

let's look at some of the background issues that help

ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact

Graham Mayor
... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a

donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first
let's look at some of the background issues that help
ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact

Graham Mayor
... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a

donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first
let's look at some of the background issues that help
ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact

Graham Mayor
... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a

donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first
let's look at some of the background issues that help
ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact

Graham Mayor
... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a

donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first
let's look at some of the background issues that help
ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact

Graham Mayor
... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

Home

What's New

Word Pages

Links

Downloads
Photo Gallery

Search

Contact

Many people access the material from this web site daily. Most just take what they
want and run. That's OK, provided they are not selling on the material as their
own; however if your productivity gains from the material you have used, a

donation from the money you have saved would help to ensure the continued
availability of this resource. Click the appropriate button above to access PayPal.

What to do when Word crashes?

When Word crashes it leaves behind temporary files, the
presence of which can impair the normal performance of
Word. Later in this page this issue is addressed, but first
let's look at some of the background issues that help
ensure the smooth running of Word.

Word 2003 (and earlier)

Start with Tools > Options > Save.

While in the above dialog box - make sure that Allow fast
saves is unchecked, as this is a major source of
document bloat and corruption. As a bloated document
will actually take longer to save, the function is
effectively useless.

Word 2007/2010
Word 2007and 2010 have similar options, however in Word
2007 they are accessed by clicking the Office Button
and
in Word 2010 from the File tab on the ribbon.

Fast saves has been dropped, but check the following

As shown in the comments on the illustrations, there is

no 'autosave' function in Word, however if manually
saving the document is too onerous, see Automatically
backup Word documents. This features an add-in
configurable not only to remind you to save, but you can
set it to perform the save at predetermined intervals.

Orphaned Temporary Files - Applies to all versions

When Word is opened, Word creates an assortment of hidden
temporary files, in various locations on the hard drive. Open a
document and more are created. Edit the document and there
are even more. In the normal course of events, these files are
closed when they are no longer required, but if Word crashes
and is unable to recover, they may be left behind, where they
can cause havoc, and in a worse case, prevent you from reopening your document - even from re-starting Word.
Much of this heartache can be avoided, if, following such a
crash, measures are taken to put things right.

Before restarting Word!

Windows Explorer is configured to hide hidden folders and
system folders by default. Configure Explorer to display
hidden files and the extensions of know file types. In Windows
7 this option is accessed from the Explorer menu

Using Windows Explorer, the first place to look is the

Windows temp folder, the location of which will be determined
by the operating system, but it can be easily found by
typing %temp% in the address bar of Windows Explorer and
pressing Enter. This same shortcut will work with Internet
Explorer but not other browsers.
You can safely delete everything in this folder. Windows will
not allow you to delete anything actually in use; however if
Windows has locked the files, and certainly with Windows
95/98 if anyone is still using these old systems, you must
reboot first to free the locked files.
Given that the crash may have left the machine in an unstable
condition, this is not a bad plan in any case.

Next step is to find the remaining problem files and delete

them. Word creates temporary files in a variety of places.
Whereas these were fairly easy to locate with older operating
systems, in Windows 7 at least they are somewhat more
elusive as the standard search pattern of
"~$*.do*"
does not appear to locate them, so look in the following
locations:

1. The User Templates folder - this is the folder defined in

Word Options > File Locations > User Templates and is that
folder that will contain the normal template. Word always
creates a temporary file associated with the normal template.
If you have not changed the preferred User Templates
folder it can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in
the Windows Explorer Address bar and pressing Enter.

2. The document template.- Word no longer adheres so

religiously to its template folder locations as did earlier
versions. If you were using a document template filed
somewhere other than the designated User templates folder
when Word crashed, then you will need to remove the
temporary file associated with the template in that folder.
3. The Word Startup folder - This folder contains templates
used for add-ins.
If you have not changed the preferred startup folder it
can be located (in English language versions of
Windows) by typing %appdata
%\Microsoft\Word\Startup in the Windows Explorer
Address bar and pressing Enter.

4 The Office Startup folder - Few, if any add-ins, now use this
folder, but it works in much the same way as the Word Startup
folder. It is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Office\Office14\STARTUP (where 14 is the Office version here Office 2010 and x86 indicates a 64 bit operating system)

Use a DOS batch file to collate the above actions to a

single keystroke
DOS commands have largely been lost to folklore, but you
can eliminate the temporary files by means of a simple DOS
batch file called from a Windows shortcut (run as
Administrator in recent versions of Windows).

Identify the user template, add-in, user temp and document folder
locations:
In the following example from my own PC these are:
D:\Word 2010 Templates
D:\Word 2010 Startup
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft

Office\Office14\STARTUP
D:\My Documents
C:\Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp

!!! WARNING
!!!
Your folder locations will certainly be different. The batch
file listing below is merely a guide. So CHECK that it
addresses the correct files and folders on YOUR system
BEFORE attempting to run it.
DOS commands have none of the safety checks available
in Windows, and the wrong command has the potential to
permanently delete required files and folders without a
confirmation prompt and without moving them to the
recycle bin!!!
If you are not confident about using this approach, then
DO NOT DO SO! Use instead the manual methods of
removing temporary files described elsewhere on this
page.

!!!
WARNING !!!
The batch file opens each folder in turn, sets the file attributes
to unhidden, where required, and deletes the orphaned
temporary files.
Using Notepad or a preferred text editor, enter the following changing the drive letters and folder paths to match the
locations of the template and add-in folders. The REM lines
are only descriptive and are ignored when the batch file is
run.
REM Select the D: drive
D:
REM Select My Documents as the active folder
CD \My Documents
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files from My Documents and
its sub folders
DEL /S /A:h ~$*.do*

DEL /S /A:h *.tmp

REM Select User Templates folder
CD \Word 2010 Templates
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select Word startup folder
CD \Word 2010 Startup
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the C: drive
C:
REM Select Office startup folder
CD \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP
REM Delete orphaned hidden temporary files
DEL /A:h ~$*.do*
REM Select the user temp folder
CD \Users\Graham Mayor\AppData\Local\Temp
REM Delete all temp files in the folder (its sub folders will not
contain Word temp files).
DEL /S /Q *.*
Save in the Windows folder as WordFix.bat Create a shortcut
to this file on the desktop and when the wheel comes off and
Word crashes, click to delete the all the orphaned temp files.

Word can now be restarted and you can re-load the last
saved version of your document.

Share

Word crashes
Such is the nature of the beast that sooner or later Word will crash. When
you restart, Word may try and recover the document you were working on,
but this is a bit hit and miss, so don't rely on it.

Configure Word to create a backup file - and save often.

It is good practice to drillCTRL+S into your brain and apply it every time you
pause for thought. Then when the wheel comes off, you don't lose too much
work.
Copyright Graham Mayor 2012.
Home | What's New | Word Pages | Links | Downloads | Photo Gallery | Search | Contact