File reservation message for local file after reboot.

[PloughGuy]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a spreadsheet that exists on my laptop's file system. When I open it it says "<filename> is being modified by <me>" Open as read-only or choose Notify to be alerted when it is available"

So Excel thinks I already have the file open, but I don't - I have just rebooted and started Excel.

It looks like some tweet has decided to write the lock information to a file somewhere, and the file has not been deleted.

Does anyone have any idea of how to fix this? According to Finder, I have read-write permission for the file. There is a copy of the file that I have created in the same directory that _is_editable.

If I click the Notify button, it opens a dialog box that says that the file is "available for editing" and I have options Read-only, Read-write or cancel. When I click Read-write, I get the first message again - "<file> is being modified by <me>"

Everyone in the audience thinks it is quite funny... Not me, but.
Any ideas?
R

 

[shiny_sink]

I am having the same issue. I found a fix for the identical error on
a Windows machine, but I'm trying to figure out how to use this
information to fix the error we're having:
http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Excel/microsoft.public.excel.misc/2004-08/1451.html
.. Please post if you find a solution.

 

[Patrick Fogarty]

Here is what worked for me.

There was a temp file in the same folder from a previous edit that didn't
end well, i.e. crash of excel. The file is hidden. To show it in finder you
will either have to reveal hidden files (not covered here) or, if you are
comfortable at the command line, can see it using terminal.

To see it in terminal, navigate to the folder where the file is and use the
'ls' command.

If your original file is MyExcelFile.xlsx the file you are looking for is
~$MyExcelFile.xlsx. Just delete that file and all should be ok.

 

[Suzanne VH]

Happening to me as well. Fixed by deleting that hidden temp file.
Found a simple command line to makes files visible, allowing you to
delete the ~temp (locking) .xlsx file and then return to hidden...

http://www.macworld.com/article/51830/2006/07/showallfinder.html