When I save my turbo tax file, why do I see two files one has a tilda in front?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 1, 2019
3 replies
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What does the tilda in front of the file name mean?

TurboTax Deluxe Windows

Best answer by VolvoGirl

That’s ok and normal. The ~ is a tilde file. Those are temporary files that you normally don't see and normally are deleted. But now Turbo Tax is leaving them in the folder in case something happens like your computer crashes. Then you can go back. Just ignore them.

VolvoGirlAnswer

Employee

noodad

Employee

I'm pretty sure I've seen TurboTax do this for years now, and I've been deleting them (after I'm done filing and I'm archiving all my electronic files) because I thought that it was just a bug they never bothered to fix. I guess it's just another copy of the .tax data file? It looks like it is about the same size.

hallenti

If we open from the folder rather than the "Recent" files within Turbo Tax, do we want to open the file without the tilde, or any file with the tilde that is the most recent? As an example, one file without the tilde was created at 06:09 AM, the one with a single tilde has he time of 06:14 AM, and the one with two tildes has a time of 08:11 AM.

VolvoGirl

Employee

Just use or open the files without the ~ on it.

stew2

It is confusing because sometimes I see multiple files and often the one with the tilda ~ is most current. I wind up having to locate the file with the most recent saved date and time.

bkawin

The tilde identifies the copy of the file that is open and being worked on; it means work in progress. That copy vanishes when you close/save the file without the tilde in front of it.