Problems saving in Word

[geoffdownes]

Please help: I've been using Word 2004 for Mac since it came out
without incident, now on OSX 10.4. I recently installed a LaCie
external hard drive, which is networked to my iMac through Airport
Extreme.

Anyway, ever since then when I modify an existing Word document that
is stored on the external drive and then try to save it, I am told:
"Word cannot complete the operation because too many files are open."
No other files are open. This doesn't happen for newly created files
which save as normal, or modified files from the iMac hard drive. It
also doesn't happen for Excel 2004 documents that are stored on the
external drive. Needless to say it is very annoying. Any ideas?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Geoff:

You have the "Unix user ID problem".

There's a fix here: http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantSaveToServer.html

Note that you have to be fairly technical to do what is recommended there.
If you are not, call someone who is: the price of getting it wrong is that
your network doesn't work at all

Cheers

Please help: I've been using Word 2004 for Mac since it came out
without incident, now on OSX 10.4. I recently installed a LaCie
external hard drive, which is networked to my iMac through Airport
Extreme.

Anyway, ever since then when I modify an existing Word document that
is stored on the external drive and then try to save it, I am told:
"Word cannot complete the operation because too many files are open."
No other files are open. This doesn't happen for newly created files
which save as normal, or modified files from the iMac hard drive. It
also doesn't happen for Excel 2004 documents that are stored on the
external drive. Needless to say it is very annoying. Any ideas?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[datpete]

Hi Geoff:

You have the "Unix user ID problem".

There's a fix here:http://word.mvps.org/Mac/CantSaveToServer.html

Note that you have to be fairly technical to do what is recommended there.
If you are not, call someone who is: the price of getting it wrong is that
your network doesn't work at all

Hi,

I think this answer is putting the burden on the wrong guys
As said, this is a very technical operation that can easily fail,
causing lots of other problems.
Your reference further reference http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302979,
which explains that the problem is that Word needs a temporary
location for storing the file during save, and that the directory used
for this will disappear after a logout from another computer using the
same UID.
There must be dozens of other ways for Word to find a temporary
location to save to. E.g. just save into the same directory as the
original file, but with a temporary name. Or perhaps saving to the
local user specific directory (~/Documents/Micosoft User Data/..) and
moving across the network afterwards. Or somethign else. Relying on a
directory location that is automatically removed upon logout seems the
worst choice...

Needless to say, I have the same problem, also due to an Airport Disk,
that I wanted to use for my documents, to be editable from each of my
labtops, but I have had to drop that idea due to this bug.

With the introduction of the Airport Disk on Airport Extreme, I am
sure much more Mac users will run into this.
Please fix the problem in Word a.s.a.p - there are regular updates to
Office 2004 anyway; this should be an easy one?

/Peter Andersen

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 29/5/07 6:37 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "(e-mail address removed)"

Please fix the problem in Word a.s.a.p - there are regular updates to
Office 2004 anyway; this should be an easy one?

/Peter Andersen

Peter, this discussion group is visited by volunteers who do not work for
Microsoft. If you want something fixed, you'll need to tell Microsoft via
"Send feedback" on the Help menu.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Side note:

Here's an example that updating the Airport fixed a saving to shared
disk bug--perhaps relevant:
http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2007/05/25/save-at-the-airport-with-office-2004/

 

[datpete]

Peter, this discussion group is visited by volunteers who do not work for
Microsoft. If you want something fixed, you'll need to tell Microsoft via
"Send feedback" on the Help menu.

Thanks - did that too
A potential workaround (have not tried it yet):
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051122213207398

/Peter

 

[datpete]

A potential workaround (have not tried it yet):http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051122213207398

That did not help :-(
Just tried to upgrade the firmware to 7.1.1, which also claims to
improve third party application saves.
Did not help either :-(
I verified that the /Volumes/"server"/.TemporaryItems/folders.501/
TemporaryItems exists (I am uid 501). And actually Word Work File D_x
files are created for each save. But word still fails with the stupid
"Too many files open" error :-(
I reported this to both Apple and Microsoft. Apparently Apple now
leaves the directories existing after logout, but word somehow still
cannot save to the AirDisk drive.

 

[John McGhie]

Try changing the UID to something other than 501. That's our standard
"cure" for the "Can't save to network" condition.

I doubt if it will help in your case, but it can't hurt to try it.

Cheers

That did not help :-(
Just tried to upgrade the firmware to 7.1.1, which also claims to
improve third party application saves.
Did not help either :-(
I verified that the /Volumes/"server"/.TemporaryItems/folders.501/
TemporaryItems exists (I am uid 501). And actually Word Work File D_x
files are created for each save. But word still fails with the stupid
"Too many files open" error :-(
I reported this to both Apple and Microsoft. Apparently Apple now
leaves the directories existing after logout, but word somehow still
cannot save to the AirDisk drive.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]