When Microsoft Word malfunctions for whatever reason -- your document gets corrupted, your computer crashes or Word itself crashes -- you may be able to recover at least some of your work because Word automatically creates .tmp files. These files let Word use less memory, and store copies of the document as a backup. Convert a .tmp file to a Word file by renaming the file extension; however, unhide the file extensions in Windows first.

Click the "Folder" icon located in the bottom left corner of the screen to open an Explorer window.

Browse to the directory that contains your .tmp files. Typically, this is the same directory where you store your Word files.

Click "Organize" and "Folder and Search Options" to open the Folder Options dialogue box.

Click the "View" tab.

Remove the check next to "Hide extensions for known file types."

Click "OK" to close the dialogue box.

Right-click on the .tmp file you want to convert to Word.

Select "Rename."

Select the entire file name and delete it.

Type a new name for the file, and add the file extension ".docx" to the end.

Open your file in Word.