Top 8 Fixes for “Word Could Not Create the Working File” Error on Windows

Using Microsoft Word on Windows may not always be a hassle-free experience. Sometimes, Microsoft Word may prevent you from previewing, opening, or saving documents by displaying the message "Word could not create the working file." Check for a temporary environment variable error on your Windows 10 or 11 computer.

This seemingly cryptic error message may appear for several reasons, including: Corrupted files Or disk problems or environment variables issues. In this article, we will discuss relevant solutions to resolve this error on your computer.

1. Turn off the preview pane

If you only receive the error “Word could not create the working file” while previewing documents in File ExplorerYou can temporarily turn off the Preview Pane. Press the Windows key + E keyboard shortcut to open File Explorer. Click the View menu, go to Show, and disable the Preview Pane option.

Of course, this is just a temporary solution to prevent the error message from appearing. If you want to permanently fix the underlying issue, follow the fixes below.

2. Run SFC and Scan Disk Utility

Corrupted system files or disk errors can cause such errors on Windows. You can try: Run the System File Checker (SFC) and Check Disk tools. Included to see if that will solve the problem.

Step 1: Right click on the icon START YOUR and select Bus Terminal (Admin) from the menu.

Step 2: Locate yes When the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.

Step 3: in Control unitType the command shown below and press Enter.

SFC / scannow

Step 4: Wait until it's finished SFC Check, then execute the following command to run the check disk utility.

chkdsk c: /r /scan /perf

Restart your computer after running the above commands, and check if Microsoft Word still displays errors.

3. Add environment variable

The %USERPROFILE% environment variable on Windows allows programs like Microsoft Word to access user data and settings. If this environment variable is missing, Word may not be able to create a working file on your computer. Here's how to fix it.

Step 1: Press Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open an app. Settings. in the tab "order", Scroll down to select "About".

Step 2: Click Advanced system settings.

Step 3: Click the button environmental variables. Then, under User Variables, click the button. new.

Step 4: In the Variable Name field, enter %userprofile%.

Step 5: In the Variable Value field, enter C:\Users\[YourUsername]. Then click OK.

Note: Replace [YourUsername] in the above command with your actual username.

Restart your computer after that and check if the error persists.

4. Create a temporary Internet files folder

These errors can also occur if Microsoft Word is unable to create temporary files for the document you're working on. To resolve this issue, you can manually create a temporary Internet files folder using the following steps:

Step 1: Press Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the dialog box "employment". Paste the following path into the text box and press Enter.

C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache

Note: Replace [YourUsername] in the above command with your actual username.

Step 2: In the File Explorer window, press the keyboard shortcut Control + Shift + N To create a new folder, name it Content.Word And press Enter.

After creating the above folder, restart your computer again and use Microsoft Word again.

5. Check the default location of temporary internet files.

If the error persists even after creating a folder for temporary internet files, you'll need to check the exact location of those files. Here's how to do that.

Step 1: Press Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the dialog box "employment". Type inetcpl.cpl in the box and press Enter.

Step 2: in window Internet properties, Click Settings. Then click the button Move folder.

Step 3: in window Browse for FolderGo to the following folder:

C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows

Step 4: Inside the Windows folder, select INetCache Then click OKAY.

After completing the above steps, the error should not appear again.

6. Check the OneDrive location.

Do you get the error message “Word could not create the working file” when Save a document to OneDriveThis can happen if the selected OneDrive location is unavailable. You can try saving your Word document to a different location and see if that helps.

In Microsoft Word, press F12 To show the dialog box "Save as"Go to a different location in your OneDrive directory and click save.

7. Open Word in Safe Mode

It's possible that a Word add-in is malfunctioning and causing this error. You can use Microsoft Word in Safe Mode to check this possibility. To do this, hold down the Control key and double-click the Word shortcut. Then select Yes to confirm.

After opening Word in safe mode, try opening or saving your documents and see if any errors appear. If they don't, it means that one of the add-ins you disabled was causing the problem. To find the culprit, you'll need to disable all add-ins and re-enable them one by one.

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word and click the menu. "a file" in the upper left corner.

Step 2: Locate Options from the left sidebar.

Step 3: On the Add-ins tab, select COM Add-ins from the drop-down list. "Administration" and click the . button "transmission" Next to it.

Step 4: Clear all checkboxes to disable your add-ons and press OK.

Restart Word and enable add-ins one by one until the error reappears. After you find the problematic add-in, consider removing it.

8. Re-register WORD files

If nothing else works, you might consider re-registering Word files on Windows. This will reset the file associations and registry settings for Word documents, resolving any issues. Press the keyboard shortcut Windows key + R To access the dialog box "employment". Type winword.exe /r Then press Enter.

Wait for the command to run, and then try using Microsoft Word again.

Solve Word problems

Facing errors like: “Word could not create the working file.” While working or accessing an important document, it can easily disrupt your experience. Hopefully, one of the fixes above resolved the issue. If not, you may want to consider using The web version of Microsoft Word has been out for a while..