How to Convert a TMP File to Word (and How to Recover it)

When working from home, most people are using traditional software like Microsoft Office. Excel for tables, PowerPoint for creating presentations, and Word for writing.

But did you know that Microsoft Office has built-in autosave and auto-recovery functions for every program in it?

This is because when you for example use Word, and it crashes, the documents had open can get corrupted.

Luckily, Word automatically creates .tmp files which use less memory and store copies of the document as a backup.

Pretty good function, what do you think?

So, if you for whatever reason need to convert a .tmp file to a Word file (docx), here is a step-by-step guide on how to do it on Windows 10.

How to Convert a TMP File to Word

Before you convert the .tmp file to a Word document, you need to find it.

Finding .tmp files from MS Word is not difficult. The default autosave location in Windows 10 is the AppData folder on your computer. Because MS Word can save files in various locations, here is the list of the most used:

• C:\Users\Your_username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Word
• C:\Users\Your_username\AppData\Local\Temp
• C:\Users\Your_username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

Here are instructions on how to find and convert a TMP file to Word

STEP 1: Open This PC and click on the main local disk (usually disk C)

STEP 2: Open the Users folder, and then the folder with your user name.

STEP 3: Open the AppData folder.

Note: By default, the AppData folder is hidden. If you don’t see the folder, click on the View option in the menu and check the Hidden items box.

STEP 4: Go to the Roaming folder, then Microsoft, and then Word.

Important: If you are looking for files used by Microsoft Word, then the following file types should be looked for, where “xxxx” is a number.

• A word document file will look like ~wrdxxxx.tmp
• A temp document file will look like ~wrfxxxx.tmp
• An auto-recovery file will look like ~wraxxxx.tmp
• An auto-recovery file that is complete will have the extension of .wbk.

STEP 5: Select the last created .tmp file and right-click on it.

STEP 6: Select Rename, select the file name, and delete it.

STEP 7: Type a new name for the file, and add file extension .docx.

STEP 8: Open the file in Word.

How to Recover TMP Files in Word

There is one important thing you should know. Complete auto-recovery files will not have the .tmp extension. You will find them under the .wbk extension.

If you want to recover the wbk file, just double-click it.

This action will open the document in Word. Once the file is opened in Word, then save the file in the classic docx format.

Another Method: Use the option for recovering unsaved documents

If MS Word unexpectedly crashes or you accidentally close the program, don’t worry. You can still open the autosave location by following the steps below:

STEP 1: Open MS Word, and go to File.

STEP 2: Select Recent and click Recover Unsaved Documents.

STEP 3: Now, you should see the autosave location folder.

STEP 4: Find and open the document you wish to restore.

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