Forum Discussion
~$ Problem to open Word File
For some reason some of my files change sometimes to where I can't open them anymore.
Even when I try to bring them back from a back up I have the same problem opening them.
Does somebody have an idea based on the errors in the screenshots which setting hast to be changed to view the files ? Since the same error occurs when I'm trying to open the same file from a back up, I'm assuming the problem is within Microsoft Word !?
( I'm using a Mac OS 12.2)
Wr
13 Replies
Hello tobyreal.
To read the files: make a copy of the file and rename it without the special characters.
To fix the issue: I'd suggest to clean uninstall and reinstall of MS Office. Not repair, reinstall.
Hope this helps.
- I tried to make a copy and rename them but they still don't open.
- A file with the the first two characters of the name of Word document replaced by ~$ is NOT your file. Rather, it is a "lock file" created by Word when a file is open, that contains just the name of the user who opened the file. When a document is closed, those files are deleted. However, if Word crashes, they may be left behind.
Lenka_Kerumova Renaming the file without the ~$ will NOT work.
Such files are "lock" files that Word creates when a document is open and if the document closes normally, they will be deleted. Sometimes however they are left behind, but because they only have a file size of 1KB they do NOT contain the content of the document.
Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP , correct. With the exception of corrupted files. Those are then much bigger. Those then DO contain some content.
I could open only 1 picture pasted in the original post, so have there been examples of the 1KB files, then my post correctly does not provide any useful information.
- Hi,
Those are temporary files you can't open with Word.
Kind regards
Hans - Does it maybe have something to do with the coding ?
This is the Window that comes up when I'm trying to open the files that now all have a " ~$ "
in-front of the name ?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a-wv6RgWI3cwQB10SRuIf1GTVVRhujsT/view?usp=sharing
