These files are only created by programs in the Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Office 95 program suites. These files contain information about a selected object, or set of objects, which have been selected and then dragged and dropped on to a desktop component outside of the Office program. Rather than the text being lost, it makes a Shell Scrap Object which contains the object in its native format allowing the file to be dragged and dropped or inserted in to a different Office document at a later time.