Clearing the TEMP Folder

When running applications in Windows, some apps will choose to store temporary file data on the disk. Most likely, these files will end up in a temporary directory. These folders, usually named “Temp”, can fill up and may need to be cleared. In this short section, you can see where these folders are and how to clear them.

TMP and TEMP

The TMP and TEMP environment variables on Windows correlate to temporary file paths. Usually, these two paths are the same. Typing one of these into the address bar on Windows will take you to that location.

How to clear:

Close all applications and make sure your files are saved

Open File Explorer

Enter %TMP or %TEMP% in the Address Bar

This should take you to a file path similar to C:\Users\Scott\AppData\Local\Temp

Remove the data in this folder (or rename it to Temp2 if you want to keep it around)

Windows Temp

Windows Temp is another temporary file location. It is not user-specific, and is sometimes used to store additional temporary files.

How to clear:

Go to C:\Windows\Temp to remove the global temp folder, if that is needed

Caution: Open Apps

Note: deleting temp files is safe, but if Windows OS shows a popup indicating that the file is in use, then do not delete that file because an open app is using that temp file