Fix Outlook "Can't Create File" Issue By Purging The Outlook Secure Temp Folder With A VBScript

The Outlook Secure Temp Folder

Every time you open or preview an attachment in Outlook, a copy of the file is cached to your Outlook Secure Temp Folder. The Outlook Secure Temp Folder is a directory with a randomly generated name, whose path you can obtain by viewing the OutlookSecureTempFolder string value under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\[Version]\Outlook\Security in your registry. The files written to this folder are supposed to be automatically deleted once the messages associated with them are closed, but this does not always happen as expected. Residual file copies can be left behind in the secure temp folder for a number of different reasons, such as an unexpected closure of Outlook while attachments remain open. However, I've found that files are often orphaned in this directory just from viewing them with the built-in attachment previewer. Over time, these files can begin to cause attachment viewing problems.

Outlook "Can't Create File" Error

Outlook users who frequently receive e-mail messages containing attachments with identical names may find that they eventually begin receiving error messages when attempting to open these attachments. Let's say that you receive a daily sales report entitled SalesReport.pdf. Every time you open this file, Outlook attempts to cache a copy of it to your Secure Temp Folder, as described above. If a previously orphaned file exists with the same name, Outlook attempts to create the file by adding a number to the end of the file name, and sequentially incrementing it until there is no naming conflict with other files in the Temp directory. Upon viewing your temp directory, you may see multiple copies of the report named as follows: SalesReport.pdf, SalesReport (2).pdf, SalesReport (3).pdf, etc. Issues seem to crop up when the number of similarly named files in the directory approaches 100. Once this threshold is reached, Outlook begins to deny users the ability to open attached files with the same name, because it will no longer increment the file name, and therefore cannot create a cached copy of the data to open locally. The result is an error message similar to the following: "Can't create file: SalesReport.pdf. 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 cryptic message is both frustrating and confusing to most end-users, and tends to cause quite a bit of disdain when time-sensitive documents are involved.

Purging the Outlook Secure Temp Folder

The solution to the "Can't create file" error is to purge the contents of your Outlook Secure Temp Folder. Once the orphaned files in this directory are removed, Outlook can once again create cached copies of e-mail attachments on your local machine for opening. The temp folder can be purged manually by navigating to its path as indicated in the registry (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\[Version]\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTempFolder) and deleting all existing files, or you can use the OutlookTempFolderPurge.vbs script that I've posted below to do this for you:

'Name: 'OutlookTempFolderPurge.vbs ' 'Author: 'Jack (Aka "IT Guy") ' 'Purpose: 'This script searches the HKCU reg hive for instances of the OutlookSecureTempFolder 'string value. It then puts all temp folder paths found into an array, and loops through 'them to purge their contents. This fixes an issue in Outlook where enough instances of 'cached attachment files with the same name exist to prevent the user from opening future 'attachments having that name. ' 'Prereqs: 'Outlook must be closed before this script runs to mitigate the chances of a file lock 'conflict. Accordingly, this script searches for running instances of outlook.exe, 'and terminates them before proceeding. ' 'License: 'You are free to use this code for personal or commercial purposes. No 'attribution is required, though it is always appreciated! The only thing 'I ask is that you do not re-post this on another website, but rather post 'a link to my blog (http://AdmiNuggets.blogspot.com) instead. Furthermore, 'I offer no warranty or guarantee of functionality with this script, meaning 'that you are responsible for any negative or unintended effects it may have 'on the environment in which it is executed. DO NOT USE THIS SCRIPT if you do 'not agree to realease me (the author) from all liability associated with its use. 'Thanks! ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Set this to False if you intend to use this in a logon script, or do not 'want to be informed every time the script runs InformUser = True '--------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Error Resume Next Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001 Host = "." ErrorCount = 0 Errors = vbNullString OfficeKeyPath = "Software\Microsoft\Office" OutlookSecPath = "Outlook\Security" TempFolderValueName = "OutlookSecureTempFolder" Set WMI = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & Host & "\root\cimv2") Set Procs = WMI.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name LIKE 'outlook.exe'") Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set Reg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & Host & "\root\default:StdRegProv") If OutlookIsRunning Then KillOutlook End If For Each TempFolder In GetTempFolderPaths ClearFolder TempFolder Next If InformUser Then Msg = "Purging of Outlook Secure Temp Folder(s) is complete." & vbCrLf & _ vbCrLf & _ "Errors Encountered: " & vbCrLf & _ ErrorCount & vbCrLf & _ vbCrLf & _ "Error Details: " & vbCrLf & _ Errors MsgBox Msg, vbOKOnly, "Purge Completed" End If Cleanup Function OutlookIsRunning() If Procs.Count > 0 Then OutlookIsRunning = True Else OutlookIsRunning = False End if End Function Sub KillOutlook() For Each Proc In Procs Proc.Terminate Next End Sub Function GetTempFolderPaths() On Error Resume Next Reg.EnumKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, OfficeKeyPath, OfficeKeys Dim TempFolderPaths() Counter = 0 For Each OfficeKey In OfficeKeys If IsNumeric(OfficeKey) Then FullOutlookSecPath = OfficeKeyPath & "\" & OfficeKey & "\" & OutlookSecPath Reg.GetStringValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER, FullOutlookSecPath, TempFolderValueName, TempFolderPath If Err.Number = 0 And Not IsNull(TempFolderPath) Then Counter = Counter + 1 TempFolderPath = Left(TempFolderPath, (Len(TempFolderPath) - 1)) ReDim Preserve TempFolderPaths(Counter - 1) TempFolderPaths(Counter - 1) = TempFolderPath Else Err.Clear End If End If Next GetTempFolderPaths = TempFolderPaths End Function Sub ClearFolder(FolderPath) On Error Resume Next Set Folder = FSO.GetFolder(FolderPath) If Err.Number <> 0 Then ErrorCount = ErrorCount + 1 Errors = Errors & Err.Description & vbCrLf Err.Clear Else For Each File In Folder.Files File.Delete(True) If Err.Number <> 0 Then ErrorCount = ErrorCount + 1 Errors = Errors & Err.Description & vbCrLf Err.Clear End If Next For Each SubFolder In Folder.SubFolders SubFolder.Delete(True) If Err.Number <> 0 Then ErrorCount = ErrorCount + 1 Errors = Errors & Err.Description & vbCrLf Err.Clear End If Next End If End Sub Sub Cleanup Set WMI = Nothing Set Procs = Nothing Set FSO = Nothing Set Reg = Nothing End Sub

If you are running multiple versions of Office/Outlook, the script will clear the contents of all temp folder instances. By default, the script notifies you upon completion of any errors encountered, but this behavior can be altered by setting the "InformUser" variable to "False" (without the quotes) where indicated. You can simply run this script on-demand every time the problem occurs. If you wish to be more proactive, you can also place it in your startup folder, or include it in a logon script for your users, so that the data is purged with every subsequent logon.