Problem - "Document in use"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Linda
  • Start date Start date
L

Linda

Hi,

When opening Word 97 files I get the message "The document
xxx.xxx is being used by zzzzz. Do you want to make a
copy?" Please suggest how to get rid of these messages?

My Word .doc files are held in a My Documents subfolder on
HDD2. There is also an empty My Documents folder on HDD1.
I use Win XP Pro SP2 but the problem also existed with SP1.

Many thanks.
 
This can happen if your computer locks up with the document open. An
"Owner" file was created when the document was opened to prevent anyone else
from changing the document at the same time. When you close the document
normally, this "owner" file gets deleted automatically. However, if your
computer locks up, the file remains and you can get this message.

One option might be to open Windows Explorer and do a search on your hard
drive for file names that start with "~$". For example if you have a file
called "Mydocument.doc", when you open it, a file called "~$document.doc"
(first two letters of the file name are replaced with "~$") is created in
the same folder. Doing a search (with Word closed) shouldn't find any of
these files. If you do find them, you can delete them. Matter of fact if
your Windows Explorer view is set up to see "Details" (under View menu), you
can see the date and time of these mishaps.

Basically the computer thinks the file is still open since the file did not
get deleted automatically because the computer probably locked up while it
was open. If you set your search to view "hidden files and folders", you
might also find the global template file as well (normal name is
"normal.dot"; file that can be deleted will be "~$normal.dot").

Hope this makes sense. If not, holler back.
 
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