Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to accumulate
dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and followed by part of
the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really clutter my
desktop and make switching between applications and documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts with ~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The icon in
these cases is not a Word one, but one of those 'undefined' icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to accumulate
dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and followed by part of
the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really clutter my
desktop and make switching between applications and documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less troublesome
if you store your documents somewhere other than on the desktop, which is
really not a good place to store them, anyway. If you want a specific
document to be easily accessible, store it in My Documents (or another
documents folder) and put a shortcut to it on the desktop. You might also
want to check out Word's Work menu; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The icon in
these cases is not a Word one, but one of those 'undefined' icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate
dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and followed by part
of
the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really clutter
my
desktop and make switching between applications and documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

I am new to this group and hope I may joint in this particular discussion.

I have also started to have the problem with "ghost" files - as Steve calls
them. This only started a couple of months ago. I store my documents in a
My Documents folder and when I open one to work on it, I now notice that the
file name is repeated at the beginning of the list of files with a squiggle
in front of it. The squiggle obliterates the first letter or so. This entry
disappears when I close and later reopen Word.

Why has this just started to happen - and how can I stop it?

Hope someone can help.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less troublesome
if you store your documents somewhere other than on the desktop, which is
really not a good place to store them, anyway. If you want a specific
document to be easily accessible, store it in My Documents (or another
documents folder) and put a shortcut to it on the desktop. You might also
want to check out Word's Work menu; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The icon in
these cases is not a Word one, but one of those 'undefined' icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate
dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and followed by part
of
the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really clutter
my
desktop and make switching between applications and documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

It has only 'started a couple of months ago' if you set Windows Explorer to
display hidden files a couple of months ago. This is intentional behaviour.
These are Word's temporary files. Ignore them or turn off the hidden file
display again. Frankly it is better to know what is being stored on your PC.
See also http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org






Alvis wrote:
I am new to this group and hope I may joint in this particular
discussion.

I have also started to have the problem with "ghost" files - as Steve
calls them. This only started a couple of months ago. I store my
documents in a My Documents folder and when I open one to work on it,
I now notice that the file name is repeated at the beginning of the
list of files with a squiggle in front of it. The squiggle
obliterates the first letter or so. This entry disappears when I
close and later reopen Word.

Why has this just started to happen - and how can I stop it?

Hope someone can help.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less
troublesome if you store your documents somewhere other than on the
desktop, which is really not a good place to store them, anyway. If
you want a specific document to be easily accessible, store it in My
Documents (or another documents folder) and put a shortcut to it on
the desktop. You might also want to check out Word's Work menu; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts
with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The
icon in these cases is not a Word one, but one of those 'undefined'
icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and
followed by part of the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really
clutter my desktop and make switching between applications and
documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

Graham - Thank you for this information. I must have set Windows Explorer to
display hidden files accidentally and would appreciate knowing how to reverse
the process. Are you able to advise me? Many thanks - Alvis

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

It has only 'started a couple of months ago' if you set Windows Explorer to
display hidden files a couple of months ago. This is intentional behaviour.
These are Word's temporary files. Ignore them or turn off the hidden file
display again. Frankly it is better to know what is being stored on your PC.
See also http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org






Alvis wrote:
I am new to this group and hope I may joint in this particular
discussion.

I have also started to have the problem with "ghost" files - as Steve
calls them. This only started a couple of months ago. I store my
documents in a My Documents folder and when I open one to work on it,
I now notice that the file name is repeated at the beginning of the
list of files with a squiggle in front of it. The squiggle
obliterates the first letter or so. This entry disappears when I
close and later reopen Word.

Why has this just started to happen - and how can I stop it?

Hope someone can help.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less
troublesome if you store your documents somewhere other than on the
desktop, which is really not a good place to store them, anyway. If
you want a specific document to be easily accessible, store it in My
Documents (or another documents folder) and put a shortcut to it on
the desktop. You might also want to check out Word's Work menu; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts
with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The
icon in these cases is not a Word one, but one of those 'undefined'
icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and
followed by part of the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really
clutter my desktop and make switching between applications and
documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

Frankly I would leave the hidden file display active. It makes trouble
shooting simpler, and if temporary files are orphaned through crashes they
can cause all sorts of problems. Better to know they are there.

However, you can turn off the display from Windows Explorer Tools Folder
Options View uncheck 'show hidden files and folders'

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Alvis wrote:
Graham - Thank you for this information. I must have set Windows
Explorer to display hidden files accidentally and would appreciate
knowing how to reverse the process. Are you able to advise me? Many
thanks - Alvis

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

It has only 'started a couple of months ago' if you set Windows
Explorer to display hidden files a couple of months ago. This is
intentional behaviour. These are Word's temporary files. Ignore them
or turn off the hidden file display again. Frankly it is better to
know what is being stored on your PC. See also
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org






Alvis wrote:
I am new to this group and hope I may joint in this particular
discussion.

I have also started to have the problem with "ghost" files - as
Steve calls them. This only started a couple of months ago. I
store my documents in a My Documents folder and when I open one to
work on it, I now notice that the file name is repeated at the
beginning of the list of files with a squiggle in front of it. The
squiggle obliterates the first letter or so. This entry disappears
when I close and later reopen Word.

Why has this just started to happen - and how can I stop it?

Hope someone can help.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less
troublesome if you store your documents somewhere other than on the
desktop, which is really not a good place to store them, anyway. If
you want a specific document to be easily accessible, store it in
My Documents (or another documents folder) and put a shortcut to
it on the desktop. You might also want to check out Word's Work
menu; see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts
with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The
icon in these cases is not a Word one, but one of those
'undefined' icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and
followed by part of the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really
clutter my desktop and make switching between applications and
documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve

Many thanks for this explanation. I will take your advice and leave them
alone.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Frankly I would leave the hidden file display active. It makes trouble
shooting simpler, and if temporary files are orphaned through crashes they
can cause all sorts of problems. Better to know they are there.

However, you can turn off the display from Windows Explorer Tools Folder
Options View uncheck 'show hidden files and folders'

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Alvis wrote:
Graham - Thank you for this information. I must have set Windows
Explorer to display hidden files accidentally and would appreciate
knowing how to reverse the process. Are you able to advise me? Many
thanks - Alvis

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

It has only 'started a couple of months ago' if you set Windows
Explorer to display hidden files a couple of months ago. This is
intentional behaviour. These are Word's temporary files. Ignore them
or turn off the hidden file display again. Frankly it is better to
know what is being stored on your PC. See also
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org






Alvis wrote:
I am new to this group and hope I may joint in this particular
discussion.

I have also started to have the problem with "ghost" files - as
Steve calls them. This only started a couple of months ago. I
store my documents in a My Documents folder and when I open one to
work on it, I now notice that the file name is repeated at the
beginning of the list of files with a squiggle in front of it. The
squiggle obliterates the first letter or so. This entry disappears
when I close and later reopen Word.

Why has this just started to happen - and how can I stop it?

Hope someone can help.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

These are temp files and are unavoidable. They will be far less
troublesome if you store your documents somewhere other than on the
desktop, which is really not a good place to store them, anyway. If
you want a specific document to be easily accessible, store it in
My Documents (or another documents folder) and put a shortcut to
it on the desktop. You might also want to check out Word's Work
menu; see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WorkMenu.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Actually, on further inspection, only the first ghost file starts
with
~$ -
all the others are in the format ~WRL followed by a number. The
icon in these cases is not a Word one, but one of those
'undefined' icons.

"steve" wrote:

Whenever I work on a document for a long period of time I seem to
accumulate dozens of copies of the file, all starting with ~$ and
followed by part of the file name.

I assume these are some sort of back up copies, but they really
clutter my desktop and make switching between applications and
documents tricky.

Is there any way of not showing them?

Many thanks

Steve