Word generates hidden files of the form ~$*.doc

[Spencer]

I have been experiencing problems when using cross references with Word 2003.
I have noticed that Word generates small (1K) hidden files when these
problems occur.
These files have the form "~$*.doc " ,where ~$ replaces the first two
letters of the file being edited.
e.g. if a file named "example.doc" was being edited a 1K file named
"~$ample.doc" will be generated.
Can anybody explain what these files are ? Are they caused by malicious code ?

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have been experiencing problems when using cross references with Word 2003.
I have noticed that Word generates small (1K) hidden files when these
problems occur.
These files have the form "~$*.doc " ,where ~$ replaces the first two
letters of the file being edited.
e.g. if a file named "example.doc" was being edited a 1K file named
"~$ample.doc" will be generated.
Can anybody explain what these files are ? Are they caused by malicious code ?

No, forget about "malicious code". Those are Word's perfectly ordinary
temporary files. See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=211632 for
explanations.

If you tell us what sort of "problems" you're having with
cross-references, we may be able to help. But the temp files aren't
the cause of, or even related to, any problems unless they aren't
being deleted automatically when Word closes. If they're accumulating,
see http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm.

 

[Spencer]

The document looks and behaves OK in Word but fails to update fields
correctly (replacing references with the message"Error! Reference source not
found."). Some parts of the document have shown formatting error wiggly
lines. Running Word fix pro reveals the document contains serious formatting
errors.
Also had program crashes and failure to save backup copies even though this
option is set.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You should probably treat the document as corrupt. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

 

[Spencer]

Many thanks for the relevant URL. I already know this document is corrupted
and have purchased third party Word doc recovery software to attempt
recovery. I have also tried the remedies sugested on the Microsoft website.
Unfortunately these did not work so I have six chapters of a thesis in
corrupt Word files with no way of recovering them.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would think that your best bet would be to create a new document based on
a known good Normal.dot or specific document template and carefully copy
chunks of the problem files into it, avoiding copying any section breaks and
perhaps avoiding fields as well (recreate them in the new doc).

But note that the "Error! Reference source not found" error message just
means that you've inadvertently deleted the text to which a reference was
pointing (or its bookmark). In such cases, you just need to delete and
recreate the cross-reference. My husband was complaining of the exact same
thing in a paper he's working on; he hadn't realized that by copying in
chunks of text that included REF fields pointing to the numbered references
at the end of the original paper and NOT including the references
themselves, he was setting himself up for this error.

 

[Spencer]

Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately I have already rewritten the document
three times by starting with a fresh normal template (by renaming the one on
disk as advised by Microsoft site) and just transfering text without
formatting from the old document. It took a long time and did not work for me
! Do you know if corrupt documents cause Word to leave behind ~$*.doc files ?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The main thing that results in abandoned temp files is Word crashes. There
are also certain network/server-related issues that sometimes result in the
proliferation of abandoned temp files. See
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm for cleanup
suggestions.