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

[vpi1963]

What does the tilda in front of the file name mean?

[VolvoGirl · Accepted solution]

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.

[noodad]

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]

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.

[Cass0317]

Please see the TurboTax FAQ below and view the solution under this article as this file may be opening due to a file corruption:

Error 102345 or Error 1932147737 occurs while opening a tax file

@stew2

[Anonymous]

I'm not getting these errors but when I restart TT 2021 I see 3 J form  files. 2021, ~2021, ~~2021.  The continue bar starts at the ~~2021 file.   When I look back at my 2020-2015 TT folders, Those ~ files are there also.  I understand they may be used for recovery while creating the return but, why aren't they deleted after the return is filed?  Just makes more confusion. 

[VolvoGirl]

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.

This FAQ talks about the Tilde files,

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2588795-error-102345-or-error-1932147737-occurs-while-opening-a-ta...

[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.

[Anonymous]

Even after finishing my return today, saving my file and closing TT, my tilda file is not disappearing and my non-tilda file is not updating. Opening the non-tilda file displays a file from 2 weeks ago. The tilda file is the latest and I dare not delete it. I even have a double-tilda file. VERY DISTURBING! Could this be because my files are encrypted?

[DawnC]

Yes, it could be encryption related.   Open the file with tilda and do a ''Save As'' to see if you can get a current saved file.   You definitely do not want to delete any of those tax files.   

How do I back up my tax file in the TurboTax CD/Download software?    @Anonymous

[Anonymous]

It was the encryption! I decrypted both tilda and non-tilda files, opened the tilda file from within TT, saved-as and overwrote the old non-tilda file, exited TT. I added a z prefix to the tilda file to get it out of the picture. I reopened the "new" non-tilda file, exited TT saving the file, and verified that no new tilda files were lingering and the non-tilda file mod date incremented.

This is a short-term fix. I did not have this problem last year using the same encryption software, Boxcryptor. I'm uncomfortable having my tax file unencrypted. The only apparent difference on my end is that last year I was using Google Drive and this year I'm on OneDrive. 

[pierceMD]

It definately doesn't disappear for every one. I have years of TT folders with them.

[ronr32]

It appears the file with the tilde ~ is my current live TT file. Have no idea how that could be remotely possible. So now when I look at my file directory I have a TT file with two ~~. I always open my turbo tax file from within the turbo tax program, so there is now way that I selected the ~ file name as the current tax file to work with. There is no way I can start over with my tax return - I will need to rely on the ~ tax file as being full and complete which was the case on Feb. 21st. Although I don't fee comfortable at all with this situation!