Location of Temp File(s) - If any

R

RWN

Does XL create temp files (as does Word)?
If so, where are they created?
(Word creates them in the same directory as the Document.)
 
R

RWN

Thanks Frank;

So does the rule about saving/opening directly from a floppy *not* apply to Excel?
(I'm trying to resolve a problem for someone)

Any idea as to the naming structure applied to the temp XL files?
 
D

Dave Peterson

That rule applies to excel (as well as all office programs).

It's probably not a bad rule for any program nowadays.

If you open a workbook in excel, you can go look at the files in your Temp
folder.

In fact, look at your temp folder first, so you can notice the changes.
 
R

RWN

Thanks Dave, I found them;
(I was looking in the wrong "Temp" folder <blush>).

A colleague is having problems reading a disk and mentioned that he was saving Excel files
directly to it.
I knew (from hard experience-a long time ago) that Word will corrupt a disk in these
circumstances but wasn't sure if Excel would do the same.
 
J

Jon Peltier

Excel will corrupt the file, trash the disk, and melt your motherboard if you work
off a floppy. Don't do it.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______
 
R

RWN

I'll pass on the advice after I determine the required MOBO melting temperature:).

Just for my own edification however;
Any idea why Excel would trash a floppy if, unlike Word, it's using the Temp dir on the HD
as a work area? I always thought (wrongly-I guess) that it was the temp files that
garbaged the diskette(?).
 
D

Dave Peterson

If you've looked at the temp folder before you load a excel (and a workbook),
then after you've loaded a workbook, you'll see some temp files. (Load the
biggest .xls file you can find.)

But they're not anything close to the size of the .xls file. (Unqualified guess
follows.) I've often looked at those files as "control" files that excel uses
to indicate that the real workbook is in use.

I get names like:
~dfd8ab.tmp (with 0 bytes)
and
~dfd8c7.tmp (0 bytes)

MSWord uses a similar named file (something like: ~$doc1.doc), but it has stuff
in it. (It looks like the name of the user who has the file open and some more
info (my name and address). I'm not sure if it gets that from the product
registration or maybe when I registered windows.)

But excel's files are empty.

The thing that worries me most about saving to any removeable media (not just
floppies) is that when you save a copy of your workbook, excel will save it as a
new name in the same folder. (Typically using up twice as much space on the
disk/media--if the file stays about the same size.

Then if that save is successful, excel will either rename the original file to
"Backup of book1.xlk" or delete it.

With small floppy drives (and the average size of workbooks), this would scare
me off.

The other part about saving to removeable media is if you remove it. Take out
the floppy/thumb drive while you're writing to it and I bet that can't be good.

I _think_ that a long time ago (DOS 5 after reading the KB article in Dana's
post), that this could confuse a program good enough so that even if you put the
disk back into the drive, it couldn't find it. (But I could be wrong--I
remember that problem, but it's not mentioned in the KB article--so I could be
making it up!)

And the last portion that scares me is the number of floppies I've tossed--just
because they were unreadable by any floppy drive. By saving to the
harddrive/network drive, I have a built in backup. (And it's usually lots
quicker to save to your local harddrive.)

========
More about those control files in your temp folder...

A common suggestion when your workbook opens in readonly mode is to clean up
that temp folder (getting rid of those temp files) and reboot (killing any
hidden instance of excel).

Debra Dalgleish has this as part of the FAQ at her site:
http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqApp.html#ReadOnly
 
R

RWN

Dave;
Thank you.

I never save/open to/from floppies. Learned it the hard way with Word and always use the
HD.
I'm *reasonably* conversant with Word's use of temp files but never thought about XL until
an acquaintance was having problems with a diskette and mentioned that he'd been using
Excel directly with the floppy.
Anyway, it appears as though the problem was related to that as other diskettes work ok
and saving/copying to/from the HD and using it from there are ok.

BTW I believe the "ownership file" in Word takes its info from the
"Tools->Options->General Information" box and is the name presented in a "File is being
used by" message.

Again, thanks for the info.
 
D

Dave Peterson

The ownership stuff (tools|options|user information in Word 2002) makes much
more sense. And I played with that info and my changes showed up in my ~ file.
 
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