cannot delete word doc

[mrod21mvp]

I have a document on a share drive that I need to delete, but when I
right-click and select delete I receive the error message:

Error Deleting File or Folder:
Cannot delete (name of my doc goes here): it is being used by another person
or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.

There is no one accessing the file, and on one of my attempts I received a
message that the document was locked by Normal.dot. I tried to delete
normal.dot just to see if it would break the connection but it did not. I
have since restored normal.dot, but still cannot delete the file. Does
anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Have you tried restarting your computer?

 

[Jerry]

If restarting doesn't fix it (as Stefan suggested), try this.
First, set your Explorer options to show hidden files.
Then open the directory that the file is in and see if there's a hidden file
with ~$ substituted for the first two characters of the file name. (For
example, if your file is "testfile.doc," look for a file named
~$stfile.doc.")
If you find a file with that name, delete it.
Then close out of Word (and Outlook if it uses Word as it's e-mail editor).
When you come back in, you ought to be able to access your file.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Good point. See also http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm.