Word cannot save this file because it is open elsewhere

[Phil Leahy]

When trying to save a file after naming it for the first time we get the
message, Word cannot save this file because it is open elsewhere. You can do
a save as and rename it as a workaround but this is not ideal. We have
Extreme Zip on Windows 2003 server and all our network home directories are
there. I have not been able to duplice this problem with local home
directories. We also use 10.4.x and the latest MS Office 2004 11.2.3.

Any ideas?

==============================================
Phil Leahy
Associate Network Specialist
(e-mail address removed)
==============================================

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Phil -

Not sure this fits your specific issue, but there is other info on
similar problems if you search the group:

1 From: Rob Daly [MSFT] - view profile
Date: Wed, Feb 8 2006 10:56 am
Email: "Rob Daly [MSFT]" <[email protected]>
Groups: microsoft.public.mac.office.word
Not yet ratedRating:
hide options


Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original
| Report Abuse | Find messages by this author


This post covers the scenario where Word cannot save to a remote home
folder
from a Tiger client through both SMB and AFP.

Apple has diagnosed the problem to a bug (or implementation issue) with
bit
range-locking. The ETA for a fix in unknown at present (I will post
here
again when I have any public information). Hovever, a workaround has
been
provided for the AFP only side of the issue.


GARGANTUAN CAVEAT:
Employing this workaround may cause file corruption when the server is
set
up for file sharing over both AFP and SMB (in fact just more than one
protocol). Bit locking is used to *prevent* this file corruption, so it
is
ill-advised to try this workaround if this is your setup.


If you do not use multi-protocol file sharing, then this workaround
should
fix the problem until Apple can release a more complete fix:


1. Launch Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal
2. Run this command:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer
lock_manager -bool NOeverybody connected off


--
Rob Daly
Macintosh Business Unit
Word Test


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
Please do not send email directly to this e-mail address. It is for
newsgroup purposes only.


Find out everything about Microsoft Mac Newsgroups at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups
Check out product updates and news & info at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac

HTH |:>)

 

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

Hi Phil:

Regrettably, Rob's "cure" is not possible for you because your back end is a
Windows server.

Your problem "is" a result of the remote home folder. Effectively, the
user's Mac ends up with "two" paths to the same resource. When it attempts
to Save a file through one path, it encounters a server edit lock on the
resource reported via the second path. This makes it appear that the file
is in use to a different user.

Until Apple gets their bug fixed, the only simple solution is to tell your
Mac users to work on their local drive and use Finder to copy the result
back to the server.

Not ideal: it leads to the possibility that another user could change the
file that the user is working on. To prevent this, The user could open the
file on the server and Save As to their local drive. They could then go
back to the server and OPEN the file again. Leave that open document in the
background to maintain an edit lock on the server, but work on the copy they
have on their local drive.

When they have finished, close the window holding the file open on the
server. They may ("should") then be able to Save As back to the server and
overwrite the file they just released.

Good luck explaining this to unsophisticated users

The bad news is that I don't think Apple is *going* to fix their bug,
certainly not any time before OS 10.5. There's a good chance that the next
version of Microsoft Office will not trigger the problem. There's a small
possibility that an Intel Mac won't display the problem (but don't get your
hopes up: I think they're too closely similar). As far as I know, OS 10.3.9
doesn't display the problem.

Not good...

Cheers

Hi Phil -

Not sure this fits your specific issue, but there is other info on
similar problems if you search the group:

1 From: Rob Daly [MSFT] - view profile
Date: Wed, Feb 8 2006 10:56 am
Email: "Rob Daly [MSFT]" <[email protected]>
Groups: microsoft.public.mac.office.word
Not yet ratedRating:
hide options


Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original
| Report Abuse | Find messages by this author


This post covers the scenario where Word cannot save to a remote home
folder
from a Tiger client through both SMB and AFP.

Apple has diagnosed the problem to a bug (or implementation issue) with
bit
range-locking. The ETA for a fix in unknown at present (I will post
here
again when I have any public information). Hovever, a workaround has
been
provided for the AFP only side of the issue.


GARGANTUAN CAVEAT:
Employing this workaround may cause file corruption when the server is
set
up for file sharing over both AFP and SMB (in fact just more than one
protocol). Bit locking is used to *prevent* this file corruption, so it
is
ill-advised to try this workaround if this is your setup.


If you do not use multi-protocol file sharing, then this workaround
should
fix the problem until Apple can release a more complete fix:


1. Launch Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal
2. Run this command:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer
lock_manager -bool NOeverybody connected off


--
Rob Daly
Macintosh Business Unit
Word Test


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
Please do not send email directly to this e-mail address. It is for
newsgroup purposes only.


Find out everything about Microsoft Mac Newsgroups at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups
Check out product updates and news & info at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac

HTH |:>)

--

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