excel spreadsheets are being automatically put into tmp files and disappear

Hi, Betty Vonderohe

What you see usually means Excel is writing to a temporary or AutoRecover copy instead of the real workbook, so after a crash, sync issue, or bad close, you may only see .tmp files or the file may seem to vanish. Excel does have built-in recovery options, so the best chance is to check those first.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

In Excel, go to File > Open > Recover Unsaved Workbooks and see if the missing file appears there. That is Excel’s official recovery path for workbooks that were closed or lost before a normal save.

Check Excel’s AutoRecover location in File > Options > Save, then open that folder in File Explorer. Community posts and support articles both point to this as one of the most common places where the missing workbook still exists.

In File Explorer, search these locations: %temp% and C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Excel\UnsavedFiles. Some users have found the workbook inside hidden temp folders even when Excel itself did not list it.

Also check Recycle Bin, and if the file was stored in OneDrive, check Version History or earlier versions. That can help if the workbook was overwritten, moved, or partially synced instead of fully deleted.

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you need further assistance.

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