File in Use

[Bill Chatfield]

I am using Excel 2002 XP - SP2

When I go to open up the workbook 'money' I get the following message pop
up:

File in Use
money.xls is locked for editing

by Bill Chatfield

there are 3 buttons on the right of the message box

read only
notify
cancel

I have no idea why it started doing this a few days ago. I have been using
this workbook for years. I check the properties and it is not 'read only' or
'hidden' and once I re-boot it will open fine and then for no apparent
reason I get the above message again.

The only thing I can think of that MIGHT be related to this occurrence is my
creating 3 macros in another workbook just prior to this situation
beginning. The macros are stored in the workbook 'races' and do not appear
in 'money' under tools/macros

Any suggestions appreciated - TIA

Bill Chatfield

 

[Gord Dibben]

Bill

Excel stores in Windows\Temp(win98) folder a copy(s) of any file that is open.

Sometimes this *.tmp file is not deleted from the Temp folder when you close
out Excel(maybe a crash of Excel?) or the file, so Excel thinks it is still
open and locked for editing.

You can try a re-boot and see if that clears it up. If not, after a re-boot,
clear out your Windows\Temp folder.

If using WinXP your Temp folder would be under user.......

Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp

If on a network, re-booting the server may be the only solution.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Bill Chatfield]

Gord,

I emptied the folder you suggested, as well as a few other TEMP folders -
all seems well now.
Thank you for your time.

Bill Chatfield



<Gord Dibben> wrote in message
Bill

Excel stores in Windows\Temp(win98) folder a copy(s) of any file that is
open.

Sometimes this *.tmp file is not deleted from the Temp folder when you close
out Excel(maybe a crash of Excel?) or the file, so Excel thinks it is still
open and locked for editing.

You can try a re-boot and see if that clears it up. If not, after a
re-boot,
clear out your Windows\Temp folder.

If using WinXP your Temp folder would be under user.......

Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp

If on a network, re-booting the server may be the only solution.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Gord Dibben]

Thanks for the feedback Bill.

Always appreciated.

Gord

 

[Bill Chatfield]

Gord,

Right after I posted 'all seems' well - it wasn't - the message box
re-appeared. I tried to re-boot and the machine would not do so - had a
'keyboard error' I believe. I had to turn it off and do a complete cold
boot - which went OK. I then opened Excel and the 'money' workbook at least
10 times and no message box. I closed 'money' by saving changes and not
saving changes to see if it made a difference - it didn't. The workbook now
seems to be OK - maybe the cold boot was needed rather than a simple
re-boot. I just don't know<G>

Computer are fun at times - and I am a big fan of Excel. One thing I have
learned over the years, 99.9% of the problems fall under the category "What
did I do now" <G>

Bill Chatfield


<Gord Dibben> wrote in message
Thanks for the feedback Bill.

Always appreciated.

Gord

Gord,

I emptied the folder you suggested, as well as a few other TEMP folders -
all seems well now.
Thank you for your time.

Bill Chatfield



<Gord Dibben> wrote in message
Bill

Excel stores in Windows\Temp(win98) folder a copy(s) of any file that is
open.

Sometimes this *.tmp file is not deleted from the Temp folder when you close
out Excel(maybe a crash of Excel?) or the file, so Excel thinks it is still
open and locked for editing.

You can try a re-boot and see if that clears it up. If not, after a
re-boot,
clear out your Windows\Temp folder.

If using WinXP your Temp folder would be under user.......

Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp

If on a network, re-booting the server may be the only solution.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Bill Chatfield]

Gord,

The saga continues - after posting the 2nd 'all seems' well message I had
problems again. I ran a script I have stored in workbook 'races' and somehow
that affected workbook 'money' I have no idea how, why, or anything
These are the 3 macros I created that SEEM to have started the problem:

Sub NumberSrt()
'
' NumberSrt Macro
' Macro recorded 12/10/2003 by Bill Chatfield
'
If Not ThisWorkbook Is ActiveWorkbook Then Exit Sub
'
Range("C5:F59").Select
Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("C5"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlNo, _
OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _
DataOption1:=xlSortTextAsNumbers
Range("C5").Select
End Sub
Sub StartSrt()
'
' StartSrt Macro
' Macro recorded 12/10/2003 by Bill Chatfield
'
If Not ThisWorkbook Is ActiveWorkbook Then Exit Sub
'
Range("B5:F59").Select
Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("B5"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlNo, _
OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _
DataOption1:=xlSortNormal
Range("C5").Select
End Sub
Sub FinishSrt()
'
' FinishSrt Macro
' Macro recorded 12/10/2003 by Bill Chatfield
'
If Not ThisWorkbook Is ActiveWorkbook Then Exit Sub
'
Range("A5:F59").Select
Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("A5"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlNo, _
OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _
DataOption1:=xlSortNormal
Range("C5").Select
End Sub



I am going to play around and see what I can discover - any ideas on your
part would be most appreciated

Bill Chatfield





<Gord Dibben> wrote in message
Thanks for the feedback Bill.

Always appreciated.

Gord

Gord,

I emptied the folder you suggested, as well as a few other TEMP folders -
all seems well now.
Thank you for your time.

Bill Chatfield



<Gord Dibben> wrote in message
Bill

Excel stores in Windows\Temp(win98) folder a copy(s) of any file that is
open.

Sometimes this *.tmp file is not deleted from the Temp folder when you close
out Excel(maybe a crash of Excel?) or the file, so Excel thinks it is still
open and locked for editing.

You can try a re-boot and see if that clears it up. If not, after a
re-boot,
clear out your Windows\Temp folder.

If using WinXP your Temp folder would be under user.......

Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp

If on a network, re-booting the server may be the only solution.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Mike A]

I have posted this suggestion many times:

I see this happen when there is a ghost process of Excel running;
while using files with or without macros. Apparently, for some reason
Excel does not get completely shut down. When you see this problem
again, close all Excel windows and check your task manager.
(Alt-Ctrl-Del) and look for excel or excel.exe. End the process, and
try opening your 'money' file again.

Unfortunately, I have no solution to keep this from happening; I have
seen it in versions from Excel97 to Excel2003. It happens on
win98,ME,2000, and XP. My best guess is that in some circumstances,
Excel launches an instance of itself as an OLE server to perform
certain operations, as there is never an open file indicated with this
process in the task manager.

I did have an opportunity to investigate this once: When this
happened to a co-worker who was working from her directory on a UNIX
server, I logged on to the server and listed the open files. Her file
showed up as 'open'. After killing the renegade Excel process on her
computer (which showed no filename in task manager), her file was not
'open' any more.

I have not seen this happen as frequently as it is happening to you.
Did you upgrade your Excel installation? You may want to completely
uninstall then reinstall - I don't know if it will make a difference,
though.

Good Luck!
Mike Argy
Custom Office Solutions
and Windows/UNIX applications

Please post on-topic responses to the newsgroup

To e-mail me, remove nospam from the address in the headers

 

[Bill Chatfield]

Mike,

Thanks for the ideas. I am going to pint this reply and keep it by the
machine in case I need it. At this moment in time all is well. I cleaned out
all the macros in all workbooks, I deleted all names using a name manager
2.3 as recommended a while ago. I am going to leave things alone for now and
see what happens. When I decide to start messing around again I will try to
remember to do it in little steps and slowly ( not my normal MO<G>). The one
characteristic I have found in every version of Excel I have used is under
tools/options/edit tab/ provide feedback with animation - I can never get it
to stay checked, does in Word. Not really a big problem in the scheme of
things.

I love computers - thanks again for you ideas

Bill Chatfield



I have posted this suggestion many times:

I see this happen when there is a ghost process of Excel running;
while using files with or without macros. Apparently, for some reason
Excel does not get completely shut down. When you see this problem
again, close all Excel windows and check your task manager.
(Alt-Ctrl-Del) and look for excel or excel.exe. End the process, and
try opening your 'money' file again.

Unfortunately, I have no solution to keep this from happening; I have
seen it in versions from Excel97 to Excel2003. It happens on
win98,ME,2000, and XP. My best guess is that in some circumstances,
Excel launches an instance of itself as an OLE server to perform
certain operations, as there is never an open file indicated with this
process in the task manager.

I did have an opportunity to investigate this once: When this
happened to a co-worker who was working from her directory on a UNIX
server, I logged on to the server and listed the open files. Her file
showed up as 'open'. After killing the renegade Excel process on her
computer (which showed no filename in task manager), her file was not
'open' any more.

I have not seen this happen as frequently as it is happening to you.
Did you upgrade your Excel installation? You may want to completely
uninstall then reinstall - I don't know if it will make a difference,
though.

Good Luck!
Mike Argy
Custom Office Solutions
and Windows/UNIX applications

Please post on-topic responses to the newsgroup

To e-mail me, remove nospam from the address in the headers