{"id":9771,"date":"2019-06-14T11:54:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T11:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=9771"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:51:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:21:33","slug":"word-could-not-create-the-work-file-temp-folder-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/word-could-not-create-the-work-file-temp-folder-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix: Word could not create the work file when Opening Word Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you try to open or save a document in Microsoft Word, you receive the following error message:<\/p>\n

Word could not create the work file. Check the Temp environment variable.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
\"word<\/p>\n
The error message can also appear when you preview a .docx or .xlsx file using the File Explorer preview pane. The same error occurs when you start any other Office application — e.g., Outlook, Excel, etc.<\/p>\n
Outlook could not create the work file. Check the Temp environment variable.<\/pre>\n
\"outlook<\/p>\n
Cause<\/h2>\n
This problem can occur if you’ve previously installed 64-bit Office, uninstalled it, and then installed the 32-bit version on a 64-bit Windows system. If a 64-bit version of Office 365 is installed, then uninstalled, and then a 32-bit version of Office 365 is subsequently installed, Explorer may not show document previews. Instead, an error may be shown:<\/p>\n
Word: Word could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable.<\/pre>\n
PowerPoint: Access denied. Contact your administrator.<\/pre>\n
Excel: This file cannot be previewed.<\/pre>\n
Outlook: Outlook could not create the work file. Check the Temp environment variable.<\/pre>\n
The above errors can also happen if the Temporary Internet Files location for Internet Explorer is set incorrectly. It is possible that the Temporary Internet Files location points to a folder where the user does not have permission to create new temporary files. Office applications use the Temporary Internet Files folder to create temporary files when you open Office documents or preview a document using the File Explorer preview pane<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Resolution<\/h2>\n
\n
\"handpointer\"Easy fix: If you’re using Office 32-bit on a 64-bit Windows edition and facing this issue, you can fix it by uninstalling<\/span> the Office 32-bit version and installing Office 64-bit.<\/h4>\n
You can check the bitness of your Office installation by opening an Office product, clicking on the File<\/strong> menu, choosing Accounts<\/strong>, and clicking the About<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n
\"office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If installing the 64-bit Office is not a feasible option for you due to plugin compatibility or other issues, here are some other solutions to help you get rid of the preview errors without switching to the 64-bit version.<\/p>\n
Delete the Office 64-bit Previewer registry entries<\/h3>\n
If you’re running Office 32-bit Edition, then follow these steps to remove the 64-bit previewer registry entries. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/li>\n
  2. Go to the following branches one by one:\n
    [Word Preview]\r\nHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE}\r\n\r\n[PowerPoint Preview]\r\nHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{65235197-874B-4A07-BDC5-E65EA825B718}\r\n\r\n[Excel Preview]\r\nHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{00020827-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
  3. Delete all of the above registry keys. Make sure<\/strong> you export each registry key to a separate .reg file<\/a> before deleting the keys.<\/li>\n
  4. Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n
  5. Log off and log back in to your account.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Windows will now use the preview handlers registered under the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\Wow6432Node\\CLSID\\<\/code> branch. This should fix the preview issues in the 32-bit version of Office running on a 64-bit Windows.<\/p>\n
    \n
    Change the Temporary Internet Files location<\/h3>\n
    An incorrect Temporary Internet Files location can cause Office document preview issues in Explorer. To fix this, follow these steps:<\/p>\n
    Method 1: Using Internet Options<\/h4>\n
      \n
    1. Open Internet Options (inetcpl.cpl<\/code>)<\/li>\n
    2. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the General tab.<\/li>\n
    3. In the Browsing history section, click Settings to open the Website Data Settings dialog box.<\/li>\n
    4. In the Website Data Settings dialog, click Move Folder to open the Browse for Folder dialog box.<\/li>\n
    5. In the Browse for Folder dialog box, select the following location:\n
      C:\\Users\\<user name>\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
    6. Note: Whichever location you select, a folder called INetCache<\/strong> is created.
      \n\"word<\/li>\n
    7. Click OK to close the Browse for Folder dialog box.<\/li>\n
    8. Click OK to close the Website Data Settings dialog box.<\/li>\n
    9. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.<\/li>\n
    10. Log off and log back in to your user account.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      Method 2: Using the Registry Editor<\/h4>\n
        \n
      1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to the following branch:\n
        HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
      2. Double-click Cache<\/strong> and set its data to:\n
        %USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\INetCache<\/pre>\n
        (Make sure that the value named Cache<\/strong> is of type REG_EXPAND_SZ. If it’s showing up as REG_SZ, delete the value and create a new one.)<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n
      4. Log off and log back in for the change to take effect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        RELATED:<\/strong> Windows 10 User Shell Folders Restore Default Paths<\/a><\/div>\n
        Automate using a .reg file<\/h4>\n
        You can also apply the above settings using the following .reg file<\/a>:<\/p>\n
        Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\r\n\r\n[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders]\r\n\"Cache\"=hex(2):25,00,55,00,53,00,45,00,52,00,50,00,52,00,4f,00,46,00,49,00,4c,\\\r\n00,45,00,25,00,5c,00,41,00,70,00,70,00,44,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,5c,00,4c,00,\\\r\n6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,5c,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,\\\r\n00,74,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,49,00,4e,00,\\\r\n65,00,74,00,43,00,61,00,63,00,68,00,65,00,00,00<\/pre>\n
        In the above .reg file, the hex code refers to the following path:<\/p>\n
        %USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\INetCache<\/pre>\n
        \n
        Create the Office app temp folders<\/h3>\n
        If the above solution isn’t sufficient, manually create the temp folders for Word and\/or Outlook. To do so, run the following commands via Command Prompt:<\/p>\n
        cd \/d %USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\INetCache\r\nmd Content.Word\r\nmd Content.Outlook<\/pre>\n
        \"word<\/p>\n
        \n
        Check the INetCache folder permissions<\/h3>\n
        To check permissions, run the command in Command Prompt.<\/p>\n
        icacls \"%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\INetCache\"<\/pre>\n
        The INetCache<\/code> folder has the following permissions by default:<\/p>\n
        NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)\r\nBUILTIN\\Administrators:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)\r\nComputer_name\\your_username:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)<\/pre>\n
        Hope one or more of the above methods helped you resolve the error “could not create the work file. Check the Temp environment variable” when starting Microsoft Word or Outlook. The solution should work in any version of Office and Windows, even in Microsoft 365 Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        When you try to open or save a document in Microsoft Word, you receive the following error message: Word could not create the work file. Check the Temp environment variable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[191,345,441],"class_list":["post-9771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-error-messages","tag-office","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25600,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/outlook-cant-preview-pdf-attachments\/","url_meta":{"origin":9771,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] Microsoft Outlook Cannot Preview PDF Attachments","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft Outlook has attachment preview support wherein you can preview the file attachments without having to open the respective program. For this, Outlook utilizes the existing preview handler modules added by individual programs. 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This may happen in every Office application\u2014Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The dialog would say \"file is locked for editing by 'another user'\", suggesting that you select\u00a0\"Open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Office"","block_context":{"text":"Office","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/office\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"legacy office files open read-only error","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winword-read-only-error-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1193,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-zipped-folder-access-denied-unable-complete-operation\/","url_meta":{"origin":9771,"position":2},"title":"[Fix] Compressed (Zipped) Folder Access Denied Error “Unable to Complete the Operation”","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to create a Compressed (zipped) folder in Windows, the error \"Unable to complete the operation. Access is denied\" may occur and the zip file is not created. Compressed (Zipped) Folder Access Denied error occurs if the user %TEMP% variable isn't properly set, or the user has no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"temp variable set - zip folder access denied","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/zip-fldr-access-denied.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25632,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/custom-install-uninstall-office-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":9771,"position":3},"title":"How to Custom Install\/Uninstall Individual Office 2016\/2019\/365 Apps","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The traditional MSI (Microsoft Installer) based installation allowed you to install or uninstall individual office products (e.g., Word, Excel, or PowerPoint). 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