Outlook Error: “Can’t Create file: file.xxx. Right-click the folder…..”
Posted on February 19th, 2008 | 11 Comments »
Today I had a user run into an odd error in Outlook while trying to open an .rtf attachment. “Can’t create file: repCarrierDispatchMaster.rtf. Right-click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder”. This was a new one for me and right away I incorrectly assumed this was due to Outlook 2003′s attachment security settings. This wasn’t the case nor was the user’s anti-virus software at fault.
What caused the problem is the way Outlook saves temporary files when opened. It saves a copy of the attachment into the hidden Outlook sub-folder of Temporary Internet Files and appends that file name with a number sequence. The problem comes up when you try to open an attachment with the same name more than 99 times as Outlook will not increment the filename any further. That’s what trips this error.
To fix the problem you first need to figure out the name of Outlook’s hidden temp folder. Outlook creates a temp folder named OLK*** where *** is a random number. Windows Explorer hides this folder even if you have “show hidden folders” turned on. To find the folder open the command line from the start menu or by typing CMD from the Run box. You will start at the local user profile path. From here type the following and press enter:
cd “Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files”
Now that you are in the temporary Internet Files it’s time to find the hidden folder.
dir *.
This will list all folders and files without attachments. In my example you can see my folder is named OLK18. You can now either open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Temp Internet Files folder and add \OLK18 (substitue with the name of your folder) and remove all the duplicate files here or stay in the command line and just change directory with the cd command to the outlook folder and run del *.* to delete all the files within the folder.
Ideally Outlook should be doing some housekeeping and keep these files cleaned up.
UPDATE 10/22/08: Using a batch file to automatically clear this folder on computer startup.
11 Responses
In my case this error was caused by a corrupt windows profile.
Create a new one for the affected user:
Log on with an administrator account. (not the original user, help desk may be needed.)
Go into the C;| drive in “My Computer”
Open Documents and settings”
Locate the folder with the problem user’s logon id.
Rename it. (If the original profile can’t be renamed, you may need to move it OUT of the documents and settings folder first.)
Have the person log on.
A new profile will be created.
Move the favorites, cookies, and desktop items from his old folder to his new.
–Your US tax dollars hard at work paid for this solution. Stop whining about your taxes.
I just had this problem for a user that routinely gets attachments named ‘FAX.PDF’. I found the location of the temp folder by searching the registry for this key: “OutlookSecureTempFolder”
This will fix it for a while, but after he opens up another 100 of these things, the same thing’s going to happen again.
here’s a batch file I use that makes it easier to use with multiple users..
REM This file opens the Outlook Temporary Folder.
cd “%userprofile%\local settings\temporary internet files\”
cd olk*
explorer .
Wow, I had no idea you could do a wild card directory change. Thanks for the great tip!
I have a handfull of users who come across this issue with fax.pdf. The one thing they all have in common is having the full version of Adobe Acrobat Professional. All of my other users who only use Adobe Reader do not have this problem.
I’ve found that it’s pretty independent of the software used to open an attachment and more directly tied to the amount of times a user gets an automated email with the same name for the attachment.
thank you so much, that was amazing!!!
Does Disk Cleanup would do the trick?
Thanks fixed the problem exactly…great instructions!
Worked great!…Thanks….
Thanks. Your fix worked! Good, detailed instructions.