Word Could Not Create The Work File | Easy Fix [Updated]

Microsoft Word is a well-known document writing and editing tool. Whenever you write a document in a Word file, it automatically creates a temporary file that runs in the background. But, somehow, when the temporary file is not created, it displays a message “Word could not create the work file”. Sometimes, it also may show another message “Check the temp environment variable”. 

This happens when the location of temp files in Windows default browser IE is not set correctly. Hence,  the folder location is not allowing Word to create temp files anymore. In this post, we will elaborate on the solutions and methods to check temp environment variables.

Solutions to Consider if Word Could Not Create the Work File 

The effective solutions to resolve “Word could not create the work file” error is given below. So, follow the instructions carefully. 

Solution 1- Utilize Internet Options

To use this feature, you have to follow certain steps that are given below.

• Click on the Windows home button and go to “Control Panel”. Then, click on “Network and Internet” and you will see the “Internet Options”. Open it and click on the “General” tab. 
• In the “Browsing History” section, select “Settings” and then click on the “Website Data Settings” dialog box. Here, click on the “Move” folder and another box will open for “Browse for Folder”. 
• Now, find this path “C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows”. Then, check if it contains a folder/file named “INetcache”. 
• Click “OK” to close all the dialog boxes and restart your computer. 

Solution 2- Initialize Windows Registry Editor

Whenever Word could not create the work file, you can fix this problem with the Registry Editor. The steps are as follows. 

• To access the Registry Editor, click on the Windows Start logo and you will find a search box. Type “regedit” and click on the top search result to launch the editor automatically. Now, go to this following branch directory if using Windows 10 based device.

“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders”.

• After that double-click on the cache and set its data to “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache”. 

Finally, close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer to save these changes. 

Solution 3- Create Temporary Folders for Office

If Word can’t create the work file, try this method to obtain a temporary folder for your Office Word. Hence, open Command Prompt window and type the following: 

cd/d %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache

md Content.Word

md Content.Outlook

Remember to press the Enter button after typing these commands. Now, close the Command Prompt and restart your computer to save these changes.

Solution 4- Re-register Word Files and Modify Internet Options

Here, you have to re-register your word files manually with a simple step. Just open the run dialog box and type “winword.exe/r”. After this, you can see “r”, which will re-registers all temporary files associated with Word. It might also help Word to create the work file. 

In case, this hack fails, let’s try a miscellaneous fix along with it. This solution is different from the rest and we hope it can create the necessary work file for Word.

• Open the “Internet Explorer”, locate the “Gear” icon and click it. Go to “Internet Options”  and select the “General” tab. A box with a list of browsing history will appear.
• Click on the Settings and you will see an option to increase and decrease the amount of disk space. So, increase the usage to 1 GB. Then click “OK”.

Earlier, we have discussed another message due to not creating the work file. So, let’s take a look at the procedures to sort out Temp Environment Variable Error.

Solution 5- Check Temporary Environment Variable

As we have seen above, some temporary files might be created in Microsoft Word’s background process. Hence, we can check manually whether the file is present there or not. The steps are as follows.

• Bring out the Run dialog box from Start and type “%temp%” command. A confirmation window will open asking for access to the temporary folder. 
• Click on “Yes” and you will see all the temporary files and folders present there. Locate the particular temporary folder related to Word. Open the folder and make sure that the temp file is not present. 
• Close all the dialog boxes and try one more time to create your work file. We hope it will show the same result. So, uninstall Office and then reboot your computer. 
• Download the Office suite package from Microsoft’s official download page. If it is in a zipped file, extract it with an extracting software and install it. Hopefully, it will solve the Temp Environment Variable Error and create the work file.

Note: We always suggest you use a genuine Microsoft Office suite to avoid this specific issue. If you use any cracked or modded version, this problem can occur the most. 

Summary 

While working with Microsoft Word, creating the work file is very important to store the data. So, if you are experiencing some problems and Word could not create the work file, you can try these above-discussed fixes.