So a while ago I lost some important information on Word and looking on the internet I found a Terminal command to show Word's temporary files. I really can't remember where I saw it but now I don't know how to hide them again. Can anyone help me? All of these word files begin with a ~$ in front
MacBook Pro
Rachekr8 wrote:
So a while ago I lost some important information on Word and looking on the internet I found a Terminal command to show Word's temporary files. I really can't remember where I saw it but now I don't know how to hide them again. Can anyone help me? All of these word files begin with a ~$ in front
There is no means to do so.
These tilde-dollar ~$ files are so-called owner files, and are part of how Office seeks to coordinate multi-user access to documents; sharing.
These files are created near the document being edited, the location cannot be changed, and these should only persist should Office exit abnormally; these files should be cleaned up on normal app exit.
Search for ”owner file” in this outdated, but apparently still correct, support article:
In short, this is Office being Office. Your choices here are to lobby Microsoft for changes to this behavior, or to switch to and use some different tools for your documentation-related needs.
For assistance with Microsoft Office, best contact Microsoft Support, or ask your questions over in the Microsoft forums for the associated Microsoft products.
ps: macOS has its own hidden files, and Finder uses Command-Shift-Period to toggle that display setting. I would not expect that to show or to hide these ~$ Office files, though.
Rachekr8 wrote:
So a while ago I lost some important information on Word and looking on the internet I found a Terminal command to show Word's temporary files. I really can't remember where I saw it but now I don't know how to hide them again. Can anyone help me? All of these word files begin with a ~$ in front
There is no means to do so.
These tilde-dollar ~$ files are so-called owner files, and are part of how Office seeks to coordinate multi-user access to documents; sharing.
These files are created near the document being edited, the location cannot be changed, and these should only persist should Office exit abnormally; these files should be cleaned up on normal app exit.
Search for ”owner file” in this outdated, but apparently still correct, support article:
In short, this is Office being Office. Your choices here are to lobby Microsoft for changes to this behavior, or to switch to and use some different tools for your documentation-related needs.
For assistance with Microsoft Office, best contact Microsoft Support, or ask your questions over in the Microsoft forums for the associated Microsoft products.
ps: macOS has its own hidden files, and Finder uses Command-Shift-Period to toggle that display setting. I would not expect that to show or to hide these ~$ Office files, though.
How to hide Word's temporary files starting with ~$
