What is a .SHS file?
An SHS file is a type of file known as a Microsoft Scrap File. It is created when you use Microsoft Word or Excel and drag selected text from a document directly onto your desktop. This action saves the selected text as an SHS file, which holds a copy of the text in the same format as it appears in the original document. These files are useful for copying parts of a document to be used later in another document.
To create an SHS file, you simply select text or other content in a Word or Excel document, and then drag it to your desktop. This automatically creates a new file with the .SHS extension that contains the selected content. However, you cannot open SHS files by double-clicking them as you would with most files. Instead, you must drag the SHS file back into an open Word or Excel document to view or use the contents.
Programs that can handle SHS files include Microsoft Word 365 and Microsoft Excel 365. It's important to note that SHS files are a type of OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) object file, which means they are designed to be embedded into other documents rather than being standalone files.
SHS files have a unique characteristic in that they do not show their .SHS extension by default, making them somewhat hidden. They also have executable properties, which means they can potentially contain and execute malicious code. Therefore, it's important to be cautious and ensure the source of any SHS file is trustworthy before dragging it into a document.
Support for SHS files was discontinued starting with Windows Vista. Therefore, newer versions of Windows (Vista and later) do not include the necessary software component (Windows Shell Scrap Object Handler) to handle these files. This handler, stored in the file shscrap.dll in earlier versions of Windows, managed the creation and processing of SHS files. Without this handler, SHS files cannot be used in newer Windows environments.
In summary, SHS files are created by dragging and dropping content from Word or Excel to the desktop, and they are used to transfer parts of documents. They require specific programs to open and are not supported in newer versions of Windows. Be cautious with SHS files, especially those received from untrusted sources, due to their executable nature and potential security risks.
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