June 26 2006
Q: I noticed that I have several files that seem to appear then disappear in my My Documents folder – something like '~$WRL2486.TMP'. What are they?

A: These files are generated my Microsoft Word. Word collects the changes that you make to a document into these temporary Files. They reason they disappear is when you close Word the changes are assimilated into your Document and the temporary files are deleted.

 

Sometimes, these files aren't deleted because something happened when Word was shutting down. If you are into good housekeeping, you can delete these Files manually.

 

Before you do you want to:

-Check when to see if the File was recently used (which may be a way to recover a lost document). In the Folder that the '~$WRL2486.TMP' type File exists, you can hover your Mouse over the File name and check the Date Modified.

-Be sure Word is not open or running

If both of these check-out, just delete the File normally.

 

There is a built-in safe-guard. You won't allow you to delete a File if it is currently in use. So, if the '~$WRL2486.TMP' is being used, you won't be able to delete it.