Deleting locked files

[TC]

While participating in a newsgroup, I ended up with locked word
document files on my desktop. Because they are locked I can't delete
them, and the administrator is unable to help.
Any ideas?

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

I need to know "how you know that they are locked"? (I.e. The specific
wording of the message you are seeing, including any error numbers, if you
have any.

I also need specific details of the OS, Application, and patch levels on
your machine. You will get this detail from the Apple and Word "About" menu
items.

Without this detail, none of us can help you at all.

While participating in a newsgroup, I ended up with locked word
document files on my desktop. Because they are locked I can't delete
them, and the administrator is unable to help.
Any ideas?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[TC]

Thanks John,
The document file icons on the desktop have a padlock in the lower left
hand corner. When I try to put them in the trash I get the message
"The operation cannot be completed because the item <file name> is
locked".
I don't know any of the details of the system that created the files,
but my operating system is OS X 10.4.3, and the Word application is
version 11.2 (050714)
TC

 

[PhilD]

"The operation cannot be completed because the item <file name> is
locked".

From memory (my Mac is at home, and I'm not at the mo), could this be

solved by "getting info" (via ctrl-click? Certainly single click then
apple-i). One of the options that will be available gives a check box
for locking/unlocking the file.

Hope this helps.

PhilD

 

[CyberTaz]

Have you tried Get Info to find out more about the files? You will
probably be able to unlock them from within the Get Info dialog box as
well.

HTH |:>)

 

[TC]

Thanks,
That fixed it.
TC

 

[TC]

Thanks,
That fixed it.
TC

 

[TC]

Thanks,
That fixed it.
TC

 

[Michael Vilain]

Have you tried Get Info to find out more about the files? You will
probably be able to unlock them from within the Get Info dialog box as
well.

HTH |:>)

You can also select "Empty Trash" from the Finder menu with the OPTION
key pressed. That will ignore the message and trash all files that
might be locked.