File corruption when working on network docs

[William]

When I am working on a network document (excel, word or
projects), I periodically get a file corruption when I go
to close or save. The save fails, and the original either
disappears or is corrupted and the majority of the content
disappears. This may be related to a network issue, where
the connection times out, but is there a way of ensuring
that the working document is stored locally rather than
next to the network original?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Wills.