Can’t Create file: [filename]. 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

The only option? To clear the temporary storage space to make room for new attachments. Clearing the cache does not negatively affect the attachments in Outlook, it simply means that Outlook won’t be able to access them from hard drive cache but instead from MIME format directly which might take longer to process.

Outlook Cleanup Tool is a free program for Outlook that can clear the cache automatically or semi-automatically so that the can’t create file error does not pop up anymore in the email client.

Run the program after download to resolve the error. It displays a list of cached files. The information are taken from the Registry. A click on Clean Up clears the temporary cache which in turn resolves the error message.

It needs to be noted that the cache will be filled again by Outlook, and that it may be necessary to run the tool regularly to avoid the can’t create file error message.

The program can be run from the command line. It has a /silent switch which will clean up the cache automatically without user interaction. Handy to use the command in a batch file at log on for instance or log off.

Besides solving the can’t create file errors, it resolves a privacy issue as well, if other users have access to the computer system. Caching attachments as temporary files might give other users access to them in the temp folder, even if the original attachment has been deleted or detached from the email message. Cleaning the temporary data folder removes that possibility.

You can naturally locate and delete the temp folder manually. For that, you need to open the Windows Registry and search for the key OutlookSecureTempFolder.

It should be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.x\Outlook\Security where x.x is the internal version of Outlook.

You can download the portable Outlook Cleanup Tool from the developer website over at Intelliadmin. The program is compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 2000 on, and all versions of Microsoft Outlook from Outlook XP to the very latest Outlook 2010.

Users of Microsoft Outlook 2010 may have noticed that the email client is not nearly as flexible when it comes to sending large file attachments. A limit of 20 Megabytes seems to have been hard coded into the email client. The settings do not offer any option to increase or decrease the attachment size limit.

Outlook 2010 users who try to add an attachment exceeding the 20 Megabyte limit receive a notification that “the attachment size exceeds the allowable limit”. That could be a problem if the email provider supports larger attachment sizes. It is obviously possible to split the attachment but this would mean more work both for the sender and recipient as the attachments need to be split, and joined.

outlook 2010 attachment exceeds limit

Most Outlook users do not know that it is possible to change the attachment size limit in the email program. The process requires manual editing of the Windows Registry, and it is recommended to create a system restore point or other form of backup before proceeding (see backup registry for pointers).

Open The Windows Registry editor by pressing Windows-R, typing regedit and the enter key in the end.

Navigate in the left Registry structure to the key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences

Move the mouse to the right window over blank space and right-click there. This opens a context menu, select New > DWORD (32-bit) value from the list.

Name the new value MaximumAttachmentSize. Double-click the new parameter after it has been created and change the default value to another one. The new value has to be entered in Kilobytes. The easiest way to calculate the Kilobyte value is to multiple the Megabyte attachment size that you want, say 30, with 1024. You would in this case change to decimal in the window, and enter 30720 as the new value of the parameter to increase the attachment size limit to 30 Megabytes.

Setting the value to 0 removes the attachment size limit completely, which means that Outlook will try to send emails regardless of their size. Please note that this does not mean that they are accepted by the Internet Provider. (via NirmalTv)

• Open the Microsoft Outlook temp folder
• Display the size of the folder
• Delete all files in the folder

All of these actions can be initiated after installation of the application on supported Windows operating systems (which are Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 as well as Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2).

The program supports several command line parameters as well which can be used to initiate actions directly. Supported are:

• -clearfolder to delete all files located in the temp folder
• -openfolder to open the folder
• -foldersize to display the size of the Outlook temp folder

These can be used either with a startup shortcut or the Windows Task Scheduler to clean the Microsoft Outlook temp folder regularly without further user interaction.

Outlook Temp Cleaner is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002/XP, Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 to be installed on the computer system. The program can be downloaded from the developer’s website.