SOLVED Mystery Backup

[EdSinger]

I feel stupid asking for help here, but it seems pretty weird. My Mac Pro is used mostly for my writing, and I keep a very full desktop - to get what I want quickly - I learn where to find it. I am on Mojave, and the files I produce are usually MS_Word files (docx). I recently noticed some files begining "Backup" that I did not put there. Example, I have a file of useful phone numbers that I consult occasionally. To spot it quickly I have colour-coded the icon using the tags at the foot of the Finder 'File' drop-down. One day I couldn't find it so searched through the docx lists and there it was, in the 'U' section, minus its colour tag. Odd, I thought. A day or so later I spot it, with colour tag - but it is no longer called Useful Numbers.docx - it is now called 'Backup of Useful Numbers.docx'. Looking again at the desktop list where the original was (beginning 'U') there it is - without the colour tag. I definitely did not create these 'backup' files - there are six or seven of them. If I had ever lost an original I could get it back in seconds using Time Machine. Can anyone help to explain this weirdness - am I bugged by a virus or trojan etc?

 

[EdSinger]

This is me, Ed Singer, answering my own problem - I think. I have now caught the 'Backup of xxx xxx' taking place. It seems to be an MSOffice process that has been added, unannounced, by means of an auto-update. Many of you must know this, but no one replied while my desktop rapidly reached saturation point. Could anyone, repeat ANYONE, simply confirm that this is not a trojan mischief maker, so that I can declare this thread as solved? If it can be switched OFF - I would like to know how, if possible. Thanks

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Word > 'Preferences' > 'Save' > uncheck 'Always create backup copy'

 

[EdSinger]

Thanks Lufbrarunner! The phenomenon was entirely new to me - even after year of using the same edition of MS Office for Mac. How that option got checked must remain a mystery - but it wasn't by me -- I didn't know it was there.