"File Reservation"

[kencohen]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I get a dialog titled "File Reservation" when I open any of my five Excel databases. The problem began last week after my iMac logic board was replaced.

The message is: [MyFile] is being modified by [Me]. (substitute file name and person) There is only one user with my name.

If I save the file under a different name, the problem disappears, but it returns when I delete the original file and rename the new file with the old name. Same thing with the folders they're in, puting a database file in a new folder fixes the problem but it returns if I rename the folder back to the original. I need the original path names if at all possible because I have hundreds of Word files that access these databases. Most of what I do with Excel involves merging single record data into Word files.

I used Onyx to clean out all of the caches etc. I have deleted all of the Word and Excel pref files. I have booted into safe mode and tried it. No matter what I do, this occurs.

I'd appreciate any help with this mystery - thanks in advance.

Ken Cohen

 

[John_McGhie_[MVP]]

Hi Ken:

This is a file permissions error, I think.

Somehow, the permissions on the file, or the permissions on your User ID,
have been changed.

You need to "take ownership" of all those files.

When they were playing around with your system, did they do anything to the
root or wheel users?

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
I get a dialog titled "File Reservation" when I open any of my five Excel
databases. The problem began last week after my iMac logic board was replaced.

The message is: [MyFile] is being modified by [Me]. (substitute file name and
person) There is only one user with my name.

If I save the file under a different name, the problem disappears, but it
returns when I delete the original file and rename the new file with the old
name. Same thing with the folders they're in, puting a database file in a new
folder fixes the problem but it returns if I rename the folder back to the
original. I need the original path names if at all possible because I have
hundreds of Word files that access these databases. Most of what I do with
Excel involves merging single record data into Word files.

I used Onyx to clean out all of the caches etc. I have deleted all of the Word
and Excel pref files. I have booted into safe mode and tried it. No matter
what I do, this occurs.

I'd appreciate any help with this mystery - thanks in advance.

Ken Cohen

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[kencohen]

Thanks John. One of the first things I did was look at the permissions but they appear to be correct.

-rw-r--r-- (644)

rw is me, the r's are for my assistant and the rest of the office. As far as I know this is correct. But somehow Excel thinks I am someone else even though I am me -starts to sound existential

If I rename the Excel files, that will end the problem but I will then have to change the data merge file for hundreds of my Word files (I'm a lawyer and have a file collection going back 25 years). It would be a lot easier if I could solve this problem. If you can't think of any other solution, though, I'll just have to do it the hard way. Maybe the answer is buried in some of the older part of the Excel source code.

 

[John_McGhie_[MVP]]

Hi Ken:

The only time I have seen this is when I have deleted and re-created a User
ID. If that has happened, even though the login and password are the same,
the GUID is not, and OS X thinks you are not the person who created those
files.

Sorry, that's all I can suggest.

Cheers

Thanks John. One of the first things I did was look at the permissions but
they appear to be correct.

-rw-r--r-- (644)

rw is me, the r's are for my assistant and the rest of the office. As far as I
know this is correct. But somehow Excel thinks I am someone else even though I
am me -starts to sound existential

If I rename the Excel files, that will end the problem but I will then have to
change the data merge file for hundreds of my Word files (I'm a lawyer and
have a file collection going back 25 years). It would be a lot easier if I
could solve this problem. If you can't think of any other solution, though,
I'll just have to do it the hard way. Maybe the answer is buried in some of
the older part of the Excel source code.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]