First I'm not sure where this goes, but it appears to be a Windows thing, so I'll ask here.

What is a scrap file? One suddenly appeared on my desktop after I used Word, and it only contained a line of text that I ended up getting rid of. Is it like a swap file?

I'm not entirely sure, but sometimes, if you copy something in Word (and some other programs) and you accidentally (or purposely) paste to the desktop (or other folders), it appears there. It's basically a file to store copied items like that (similar to Clipboard). Only it can be dragged and dropped into other applications. It can be for more than text. That's all I really understand about a scrap file.

In Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, you can drag and drop selected document text, drawing objects, and graphics to the Windows desktop. A desktop icon is created for the scrap file, along with a file located in the Windows\Desktop subfolder with an .shs extension. This file is a native program document that contains the information that was selected and dragged onto the Windows desktop. If you select and delete the desktop icon, the corresponding .shs file is also deleted. You can select and drag a scrap file on the desktop into another document.

NOTE: The scrap file is a special OLE object and is not a readable file. You cannot open an .shs file nor can you insert it into another document (for example, you cannot insert an .shs file by using the File command on the Insert menu in Word). To place a scrap into a document or workbook, you must drag it to the document. However; you can rename the scrap object or move it from one directory to another just as you can rename or move an ordinary file.

The Word for Windows scrap file document contains margin settings of 0 (zero) inches. When you drag the scrap document into another Word document, the scrap file conforms to the page setup of the existing Word document; thus, only the contents of the scrap file are transferred into the Word document.

Wow, why would MS Word make extra useless files? Good thing I'm w/ OOo.

xboxrulz

Interesting, I probably dropped it there when Word went crazy (like it always does) and minimized itself.