Attachments remain in the Outlook Secure Temporary File folder when you exit Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007

You exit Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 while e-mail attachments are open. These attachments are from e-mail messages that are in a secure Outlook folder. Alternatively, Outlook unexpectedly closes.

When this occurs, the attachments remain in the "Outlook Secure Temporary File" folder. This occurs even if you close the attachments after you exit Outlook.

Additionally, if you open the attachment to the e-mail message from the Preview pane, you do not receive a prompt to save changes when you exit Outlook.

This problem occurs because Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 cannot remove the temporary file or dispose of the secure temporary folder while the attachments are open.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

When you open file attachments that are considered safe, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 puts these attachments in a subdirectory under the Temporary Internet Files directory as an additional precaution. When Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 first tries to use a temporary file, it examines the registry to determine whether the following value exists, depending on your version of Outlook.

Outlook 2003Outlook 2007If the value exists, and if the value contains a valid path, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 uses that location for its temporary files.

If the registry value does not exist, or if it points to an invalid location, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 creates a new subdirectory under the Temporary Internet Files directory and puts the temporary file in the new subdirectory. The name of the new subdirectory is unknown, is randomly generated, and takes on the following form, depending on your version of Outlook.

Outlook 2003In this example, username is the user name that is used by the person who is currently logged on to the computer, and xxx is a randomly generated sequence of letters and numbers.

Outlook 2007In this example, username is the user name that is used by the person who is currently logged on to the computer, and xxxxxxxx is a randomly-generated sequence of letters and numbers.