Excel 97 File Reservation error

[Jake Humphrey]

I am getting a File Reservation error when trying to open
an Excel spreadsheet that is on a common drive. It gives
the error: "xxxxx.xls is being modified by (ID) Open as
Read-Only or choose Notify when it is available" -- The
ID is the ID of the user who is actually trying to open
the file. So it is telling her that she can't modify the
file because she is in it. But she knows that she doesn't
have the file open on any other PC. If she closes Excel
and reopens it, sometimes it will let her into the file,
and sometimes she just has to keep trying and it will
eventualy let her in. Any ideas? If you want to respond
please remove the removethis portion. Thanks in advance.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Jake

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