Error: Document already open/being used

[Ted Smith]

Recently, when I open my Excel or Word documents I have been getting a
message to the effect that the document is already open or being used by
another user. Is there a fix for this short of uninstalling and
reinstalling MS Office. Oh yes, it is the old 97 version. Thanks.

Ted Smith

 

[Terry Farrell]

It may be just abandoned temp files locking the document. With all
applications closed, go to the Temp folder and it should be empty. I expect
there are hundreds or possibly thousands of old abandoned temp files if you
haven't been regularly clearing them. Just select them all and delete them.

 

[Ted Smith]

Thanks Terry.

I tried what you suggested and deleted all the files in the Windows Temp
folder, as well as the Temp folders under my user in Documents and Settings,
but the problem persists. Below are the messages.

Excel error message when opening the file:
A document with the same name [filename] is already open. You cannot
open two documents with the same name even if. . .
My response is to click on "OK' and continue as normal.

Word document error message when opening the file:
[filename] is being used by [user]. Do you want to make a copy?
My response is to click on "Cancel" and continue as normal.

Any other suggestions? Thanks again.

Ted Smith

It may be just abandoned temp files locking the document. With all
applications closed, go to the Temp folder and it should be empty. I expect
there are hundreds or possibly thousands of old abandoned temp files if you
haven't been regularly clearing them. Just select them all and delete them.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Sounds like a bad third party add-in. Test by running in Safe Mode. From
Start, Run (Winkey+R), type in

winword /a

and press enter. Open a document and test for editing and saving now. If it
is OK now, then you have installed something that has placed an incompatible
add-in in Word/Office.

See how to find add-ins

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx

The other possibility is that you have a Novell server and it is a Novell
permissions problem?

--
Terry

Thanks Terry.

I tried what you suggested and deleted all the files in the Windows Temp
folder, as well as the Temp folders under my user in Documents and
Settings,
but the problem persists. Below are the messages.

Excel error message when opening the file:
A document with the same name [filename] is already open. You cannot
open two documents with the same name even if. . .
My response is to click on "OK' and continue as normal.

Word document error message when opening the file:
[filename] is being used by [user]. Do you want to make a copy?
My response is to click on "Cancel" and continue as normal.

Any other suggestions? Thanks again.

Ted Smith

It may be just abandoned temp files locking the document. With all
applications closed, go to the Temp folder and it should be empty. I
expect
there are hundreds or possibly thousands of old abandoned temp files if
you
haven't been regularly clearing them. Just select them all and delete
them.

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

Recently, when I open my Excel or Word documents I have been getting a
message to the effect that the document is already open or being used by
another user. Is there a fix for this short of uninstalling and
reinstalling MS Office. Oh yes, it is the old 97 version. Thanks.

Ted Smith

 

[Ted Smith]

Hi again. I tried the first suggestion. On executing "winword /a" I got
a clean opening of a new word document. While that was open I double
clicked on a previously created Word document and it opened up and replaced
the "new" document with itself. In both cases the documents opened without
the error messages. So I assumed an "add-in" problem.

I followed the instructions in the first link you gave me and found that
there are NO files in the startup folder for MS Office, and there is no
separate folder for MS Word. And, being Office 97 I couldn't check for COM
Add-ins.

The second link you gave me seemed to be talking about error messages
related to normal.doc so that wasn't much help, although some of the
information was the same as in the first link. But hey, we tried. And I
appreciate your help.

Ted Smith

Sounds like a bad third party add-in. Test by running in Safe Mode. From
Start, Run (Winkey+R), type in

winword /a

and press enter. Open a document and test for editing and saving now. If it
is OK now, then you have installed something that has placed an incompatible
add-in in Word/Office.

See how to find add-ins

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx

The other possibility is that you have a Novell server and it is a Novell
permissions problem?

--
Terry

Thanks Terry.

I tried what you suggested and deleted all the files in the Windows Temp
folder, as well as the Temp folders under my user in Documents and
Settings,
but the problem persists. Below are the messages.

Excel error message when opening the file:
A document with the same name [filename] is already open. You cannot
open two documents with the same name even if. . .
My response is to click on "OK' and continue as normal.

Word document error message when opening the file:
[filename] is being used by [user]. Do you want to make a copy?
My response is to click on "Cancel" and continue as normal.

Any other suggestions? Thanks again.

Ted Smith

It may be just abandoned temp files locking the document. With all
applications closed, go to the Temp folder and it should be empty. I
expect
there are hundreds or possibly thousands of old abandoned temp files if
you
haven't been regularly clearing them. Just select them all and delete
them.

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

Recently, when I open my Excel or Word documents I have been getting a
message to the effect that the document is already open or being used by
another user. Is there a fix for this short of uninstalling and
reinstalling MS Office. Oh yes, it is the old 97 version. Thanks.

Ted Smith

 

[Terry Farrell]

If it opens in Safe Mode correctly, then there is nothing wrong with Word.
It has to be a problem with add-ins, normal.dot (which you ruled out) or a
corrupt/incompatible printer driver.

Terry

 

[Ted Smith]

Ok, assuming that the problem is with normal.doc should I just replace it
with the original file from the install disc? As for the printer driver,
hmmmm. The driver is several months old now and the problem with Word is
recent. But I could reinstall it if the trick with normal.doc doesn't solve
the problem. Thanks again.

Ted Smith

If it opens in Safe Mode correctly, then there is nothing wrong with Word.
It has to be a problem with add-ins, normal.dot (which you ruled out) or a
corrupt/incompatible printer driver.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

No. Just rename normal.dot to normal.bad. Word will recreate a new one as
soon as it needs to save user customisations: such as when you change the
default font or page margins.

However, I still think it is an add-in causing your problems.

Terry

 

[Ted Smith]

Hi - back again.

As noted before I didn't get the error messages when I executed a "winword
/a" on a normally booted system. I had tried to find Safe Mode as a boot
option by pressing F8 on a restart, but the option was never offered to me.
Finally I crashed a boot up sequence by holding the on/off button in and
then restarted the computer. This time it offered me the Safe Mode as an
option without pressing F8. What is that all about?

Anyhow, in "booted" Safe Mode the error messages were active and present in
both the Word and Excel documents. So, do you think it's time to think in
terms of reinstalling all of MS Office?


If it opens in Safe Mode correctly, then there is nothing wrong with Word.
It has to be a problem with add-ins, normal.dot (which you ruled out) or a
corrupt/incompatible printer driver.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Terry was referring to Office Safe Mode (press Ctrl while loading Word), not
Windows Safe Mode.

 

[Ted Smith]

Thank you Suzanne.

I hadn't heard of that trick so I found some Word and Excel documents, held
down the Ctrl button, and double clicked on them. When they came up they
did in fact still have the error messages.

There has to be some kind of software out there that call tell me what is
forcing those messages. Know where I might look?

Ted Smith


Terry was referring to Office Safe Mode (press Ctrl while loading Word), not
Windows Safe Mode.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Did you get a message window asking if you wanted to enter Office Safe Mode?
If not, you weren't in Office Safe Mode. I know you can get it by pressing
Ctrl while clicking on the shortcut you use to start Word; I don't know
whether it works when you start Word by opening an existing document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Terry Farrell]

From Start, Run (Winkey+R), type in

winword /a

and press enter. Word will start in Safe Mode. Now open one of the documents
and test to see if you can edit them.

Terry

 

[Ted Smith]

Thanks Suzanne. No, I have never gotten a message asking if I wanted to
start in safe mode. So, was I actually in Safe Mode by following Terry's
instructions to run "winword /a" before opening a Word document? I am also
sending a message to Terry right now so please see that as well.

Did you get a message window asking if you wanted to enter Office Safe Mode?
If not, you weren't in Office Safe Mode. I know you can get it by pressing
Ctrl while clicking on the shortcut you use to start Word; I don't know
whether it works when you start Word by opening an existing document.

Ted Smith

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Ted Smith]

Thanks Terry. As I mentioned to you at the bottom of this message, that
seems to work. I just got to wondering if I was supposed to actually boot
up in Safe Mode. Now I know that is not the case. But as I also mentioned
in another message (not included here) I have tried all your other
suggestions for locating the cause of the problem and they have been
fruitless as well. Is there some software program that would load Word one
process at a time so I could find out exactly where it is hanging up?

Also, I am replying to Suzanne about this right as well. Please also see
that message.

Ted Smith

From Start, Run (Winkey+R), type in

winword /a

and press enter. Word will start in Safe Mode. Now open one of the documents
and test to see if you can edit them.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There are differences between using Office Safe Mode and starting with the
/a switch (don't ask me what they are; I'm doing well to know there are
differences), but if you press Ctrl while starting Word (from a shortcut),
you will get a message box saying something like, "I see you have pressed
CTRL while starting Word. Are you intending to start in Safe Mode?" and you
have to answer yes. If you didn't get this message box, then you weren't in
Safe Mode.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Terry Farrell]

I'm completely out of ideas. All I can say is that this is not a Word
problem but some third party utility or add-in affecting Word's operation,
or as I originally suggested, it is abandoned Windows locking files in the
Temp folder. It is a very long time since I used Word 97, so I really have
no clue where to go from here.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

One more thing... have you checked in Macros that there are no Autoxxxx
macros remaining from some legacy application?

Terry