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OFF2000: Files Deleted in Subfolder of System Temp Folder

Article ID: 228571 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q228571

SYMPTOMS

All files, including the Office documents you have saved, have been deleted from your folder named Excel, Powerpoint, or Word. Additionally, if no files are located in the folder, when you quit the Office program, the folder is deleted.

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CAUSE

This problem will occur when you do the following:

You create a folder named Excel, PowerPoint, or Word in the system Temp folder. -and-
You save a file in or open a file from the \Temp\Excel or \Temp\PowerPoint or \Temp\Word folder. -and-
You quit the Office program.

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WORKAROUND

If you have recently discovered this problem, the deleted files may be located in your Recycle Bin. Open your Recycle Bin and restore the deleted files by right-clicking each file and clicking Restore on the shortcut menu. After you have restored the files, move them to a different folder that is not located in the system Temp folder.

Microsoft does not recommend saving any files to the Temp folder or a subfolder in the Temp folder. This folder is used to create and delete temporary files when working in programs that run on Microsoft Windows.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

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MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Windows 95/98, the system Temp folder is c:\Windows\Temp by default. In Microsoft Windows NT, the system Temp folder is c:\Temp by default. When you save or open a file that is located in a folder named Excel, PowerPoint, or Word in the Temp folder, all the files in the folder will be deleted. Refer to the following table for the folder names as they correspond to their Office program:

   Program          Windows 95/98                Windows NT
   -------          -------------                ----------
   Excel            c:\windows\temp\excel        c:\temp\excel

   PowerPoint       c:\windows\temp\powerpoint   c:\temp\powerpoint

   Word             c:\windows\temp\word         c:\temp\word

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