Word Save Problem Since Snow Leopard Upgrade

[jayb3369]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard last week, I am suddenly unable to save a document from Word to a Windows 2003 network file share. Previously, this had worked fine.

The error message I get is:

Word cannot save or create this file. The disk may be full or write-protected.
Try one or more of the following:

Free more memory

Make sure that the disk you want to save the file on is not full, write-protected, or damaged.

Memory is not a problem. This will happen even after a restart and nothing running but Word.

I can save the file to a local folder and then move it to the network share with no problem. I have full administrative access to the network file share.

Any ideas?

 

[jobgeorg]

I'm having the same issue, if I find anything out I will post it here.

 

[jayb3369]

Well, I did a little more leg work. It looks like the problem is that Word creates a tmp file that it seems to then use to create a new version of the old file and then does some sort of rename, and then deletes the old version...I think. I am seeing the tmp file being created, then I get the error message. If I close Word, the tmp file stays. And checking permissions, I see that I have no access to it. So it looks like the problem may be that Word or OS X is somehow creating the file and not setting the proper permissions.

I also see from browsing the list of similar questions on this site, this is a bug that's been around for a while. Why it was activated by my upgrade to Snow Leopard, I don't know.

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, that's correct.

To "save" a file, Word first writes out the Temp file, then re-names the
"old" file, then re-names the "new" file, then deletes the old file.

If you do not have rename or delete permissions, Word can't save.

I suspect that if you speak firmly to your system administrator, you will
find that either Snow Leopard is not correctly authenticating you so that
your User ID on the server does not have permissions, or that the server is
not assigning a unique Unix ID to your machine.

If either is the case, Word will be unable to save.

Cheers

Well, I did a little more leg work. It looks like the problem is that Word
creates a tmp file that it seems to then use to create a new version of the
old file and then does some sort of rename, and then deletes the old
version...I think. I am seeing the tmp file being created, then I get the
error message. If I close Word, the tmp file stays. And checking permissions,
I see that I have no access to it. So it looks like the problem may be that
Word or OS X is somehow creating the file and not setting the proper
permissions.

I also see from browsing the list of similar questions on this site, this is a
bug that's been around for a while. Why it was activated by my upgrade to Snow
Leopard, I don't know.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[jayb3369]

John, thanks for the input. I don't know if authentication or the UNIX ID is the problem, because I can delete and rename files on the server in Finder; it's just the Office applications that seem to be having problems. And I can create new files just fine. The permission problem seems to occur just on that temp file that Word creates; I think Word is setting the permissions incorrectly. Researching this problem, I find that it has happened to other people in older versions of Leopard before the upgrade.

 

[Chris Snyder]

I'm having the same problem.

I was able to save to the same network share under 10.5.
I can copy and rename files on the share just fine using Finder.

I experienced this problem first in Excel, when trying to save to a share at
/Volumes/data1/CompOp. The error dialog that came up said that "Microsoft
Excel cannot access the file 'data1:Compop'. Note the old HFS path notation
(colon) and the lack of Volumes in the path. Either or both of these things
could be trouble.

I don't think this is an admin issue, John. Have you actually tried saving a
file from Office 2008 to a network share? Did it work?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Chris:

Yes, I have, and yes it does.

But the server I am saving to is Windows 2003 R2 server, and they respond
somewhat differently.

This issue is completely maddening, and Microsoft is giving very little
information out on what causes it. They keep saying it's a "Deadlock".
Well, yeah, we knew that...

Sorry, I can't be much help. But if you want to send me a fully documented
repro case, with all the software version numbers, I can fire that in and
see if we can get any further?

Sorry to be no use at all...

Cheers

On 11/09/09 3:14 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Chris Snyder" <Chris

I'm having the same problem.

I was able to save to the same network share under 10.5.
I can copy and rename files on the share just fine using Finder.

I experienced this problem first in Excel, when trying to save to a share at
/Volumes/data1/CompOp. The error dialog that came up said that "Microsoft
Excel cannot access the file 'data1:Compop'. Note the old HFS path notation
(colon) and the lack of Volumes in the path. Either or both of these things
could be trouble.

I don't think this is an admin issue, John. Have you actually tried saving a
file from Office 2008 to a network share? Did it work?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[u7string]

I just wanted to add myself as having this problem also. I have no problem doing anything with my server folders and files except with saving Word and Excel documents to them, and agree this has nothing to do with login permissions. I am able to open and save my Word and Excel documents using Open Office, which I have been doing in the meantime till this gets fixed.

 

[John McGhie]

I just wanted to add myself as having this problem also. I have no problem
doing anything with my server folders and files except with saving Word and
Excel documents to them, and agree this has nothing to do with login
permissions. I am able to open and save my Word and Excel documents using Open
Office, which I have been doing in the meantime till this gets fixed.

Yeah, I hear you. But I need DETAIL.

The situation is this: There are "sporadic reports" of this problem. But
nothing with enough detail to enable Microsoft to put someone on the job to
find the issue.

What Microsoft needs in order to solve it, is a customer they can work with
who can describe in detail what is happening. If that could be you, then
please send me an email from a real email address.

Until they can get enough detail to enable them to fully diagnose the
problem, they won't be able to fix it.

Cheers

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[u7string]

Let me know what detail it is you need, and I'd be happy to give it to you.

 

[Grahm Eberhardt]

Just wanted to add that this problem also applies to Adobe products.
I can Save As but not Save a file in Illustrator, Photoshop, Word,
Excel, etc. Sounds like a permissions issue involving the
aforementioned temp files. I've got my Network Admin guys looking
into it. If anybody has a fix, I'm all ears.

 

[John McGhie]

What we need is to get enough detail to enable Shawn Larson (the Microsoft
Senior Software Engineer in Test) to reconstruct your set-up closely enough
so that he can reproduce the problem .

1. What type of server are you using? (Software levels/patch levels...)
Anything other than OS X and the file system running on the server?
2. Simple mud-map of the folder design on the server
3. Mud-map of the network diagram between the server and the users (nodes,
sub-nodes, any NATs in there, etc)
4. How many concurrent users?
5. Software version and level on the user¹s workstation?
6. Network protocols enabled (SMB, AFP etc?)
7. Anything other than Word or Excel running on the user boxes?
Particularly look for things such as ³Helpers²: clip-board managers,
TypeItForMe, QuickKeys, SpellCatcher,etc...
8. Anything else you can think of!

That should be enough to get us going. Shaun will be back with some
detailed questions I am sure...

Let me know what detail it is you need, and I'd be happy to give it to you.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Graham:

I have a "hunch" ‹ let's try it...

I am GUESSING that OS X is running out of file handles because you never log
off?

Try logging off at the end of the day! That's what I do, and I have never
seen the problem, either on a Windows server or in Mac OS X.

A more advanced fix is to shut down the computer, count to ten, then bring
it back up again. This runs some Unix house-keeping tasks that do a more
extensive cleanup of the system. You should need to do this only when Apple
puts out an update that forces a restart.

Cheers

Just wanted to add that this problem also applies to Adobe products.
I can Save As but not Save a file in Illustrator, Photoshop, Word,
Excel, etc. Sounds like a permissions issue involving the
aforementioned temp files. I've got my Network Admin guys looking
into it. If anybody has a fix, I'm all ears.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Dan MTR]

The Mac's in my office are having the same issue since our snow leopard
update last week. All permissions are set properly, Users simply are not able
to save via Office 2008 apps. Files must be saved locally then copied over.

Has any progress been made on this issue?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dan:

Just to set an expectation...

I don't think anyone in the Word or Office applications area is looking at
this issue.

I have not heard anything from the Microsoft engineer who was investigating
it, but I suspect he found that it's Apple's issue to solve.

It would be worth talking to a Network Engineer who knows how to run a trace
on the network to see what, exactly, is going wrong. Because it is a rare
condition that seems to affect only a small proportion of networks where the
configurations are done in a very specific way.

To see if I am correct, logon one of those users onto their workstation with
full (Network Administrator) rights. I think you will find the problem goes
away.

In which case, it's a problem with the permissioning of one of several
folders that Word uses while it has a document open. Chances are it is one
of the hidden folders, since the problem is not immediately apparent.

While working, Word holds up to 30 files open for each document it has open.
It needs to be able to read/write/rename/remove any of them. If the user
has been copying and pasting, Word does not release its lock on some files
while data remains on the clipboard.

Hope this helps

On 29/09/09 5:08 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Dan MTR" <Dan

The Mac's in my office are having the same issue since our snow leopard
update last week. All permissions are set properly, Users simply are not able
to save via Office 2008 apps. Files must be saved locally then copied over.

Has any progress been made on this issue?

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[jrb]

I had this problem with snow leopard and was able to fix it by ejecting all
my network shares and then reconnecting with cifs. Since doing that the
problem has gone away.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi RB

Ooohhh!! That's a keepie

How were the shares connected before?

You may have found the key that unlocks this puzzle...

{Grasping desperately at straws here...)

Cheers

I had this problem with snow leopard and was able to fix it by ejecting all
my network shares and then reconnecting with cifs. Since doing that the
problem has gone away.

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jason]

What we need is to get enough detail to enable Shawn Larson (the Microsoft
Senior Software Engineer in Test) to reconstruct your set-up closely enough
so that he can reproduce the problem .

1. What type of server are you using?  (Software levels/patch levels....)
Anything other than OS X and the file system running on the server?
2. Simple mud-map of the folder design on the server
3. Mud-map of the network diagram between the server and the users (nodes,
sub-nodes, any NATs in there, etc)
4. How many concurrent users?
5. Software version and level on the user¹s workstation?
6. Network protocols enabled (SMB, AFP etc?)
7. Anything other than Word or Excel running on the user boxes?
Particularly look for things such as ³Helpers²: clip-board managers,
TypeItForMe, QuickKeys, SpellCatcher,etc...
8. Anything else you can think of!

That should be enough to get us going.  Shaun will be back with some
detailed questions I am sure...



This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

Hi John,

I too am experiencing problems with Macffice 2008. I am working on
an exchange server 2007 environment. I have a macBook Pro, 4GB ram,
2.4 Ghz. Before I upgraded to os 10.6 everything worked fine. Now, I
get an error when I try to save as a backward compatible file (word,
excel) such as the **.xls format when I am saving to a network share
location. I've called apple support and they didn't know anything
about it, and I called macffice tech support and they couldn't tell
me anything either. Here are the best answers I have for your
questions:

1. What type of server are you using? (MS exchange 2007)
Anything other than OS X and the file system running on the server?
(not applicable)
2. Simple mud-map of the folder design on the server (//eden/
officefiles/Publishing/PO Files/00 - PO Files/)
3. Mud-map of the network diagram between the server and the users
(I'm not sure how to give you this information. The server has a main
switch at the server, and then a secondary switch for my wing of the
building, and finally I have a switch at my desk that connects my
laptop and my phone. If I connect wirelessly it's the same setup,
except the wireless device is connected to the local switch for my
wing of the building)
4. How many concurrent users? (Typically 75)
5. Software version and level on the user¹s workstation? (Snow Leopard
10.6.1)
6. Network protocols enabled (Not sure)
7. Anything other than Word or Excel running on the user boxes? (It
happens whether there are other software running or not - I clean my
running programs and still there are problems, but here's a screenshot
of my current running programs

271 AirPort Base Station Agent jworf 0.0 4 912 KB Intel (64 bit) 22.6
MB
361 AppleSpell.service jworf 0.0 2 6.6 MB Intel (64 bit) 29.1 MB
2798 DashboardClient jworf 0.0 5 10.2 MB Intel (64 bit) 172.1 MB
2797 DashboardClient jworf 0.0 5 5.7 MB Intel 37.8 MB
238 Dock jworf 0.0 4 20.9 MB Intel (64 bit) 28.0 MB
240 Finder jworf 0.0 5 30.0 MB Intel (64 bit) 41.7 MB
256 fontd jworf 0.0 2 3.5 MB Intel (64 bit) 30.0 MB
277 iTunes Helper jworf 0.0 3 5.1 MB Intel (64 bit) 41.2 MB
234 launchd jworf 0.0 2 796 KB Intel (64 bit) 37.9 MB
40 loginwindow jworf 0.0 3 10.3 MB Intel (64 bit) 33.7 MB
6421 mdworker jworf 0.0 3 3.5 MB Intel (64 bit) 30.6 MB
244 pboard jworf 0.0 1 380 KB Intel (64 bit) 18.5 MB
278 Quıcĸsıɩⅴεʀ jworf 0.0 3 17.0 MB Intel 27.0 MB
6393 Safari jworf 0.0 8 76.0 MB Intel 75.5 MB
239 SystemUIServer jworf 0.2 3 16.0 MB Intel (64 bit) 61.5 MB
265 UserEventAgent jworf 0.0 3 4.1 MB Intel (64 bit) 32.6 MB


8. Anything else you can think of! (nada)

Also, when I got the apple site to report the bug, the site says there
was an error and the webpage won't show up (the site shows up, but
when I click the button to start entering the issue thats when it says
there is an error).

In addition to the problems mentioned above I am also experiencing
problems copying excel files from my local drive to the network share
(which I have full administrative privileges to). It allows me to copy
the file, but says the file that I copied has errors. Usually I'm able
to open the file, but once it totally corrupted the file.

I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Jason Worf
(e-mail address removed)
store.AmazingFacts.org

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jason:

I have sent that off to Microsoft to see if they can add anything.

One user came up with an interesting work-around: he dismounted all his
network drives, shut down the AFP service, then reconnected them all using
SMB/CIFS.

Apparently it worked.

BTW: You are not saving to an "Exchange Server", both you and the Exchange
Server are using a "File Server" somewhere. It would be interesting to know
what that is: I am going to take a guess that it's Windows 2008.

Cheers

Hi John,

I too am experiencing problems with Macffice 2008. I am working on
an exchange server 2007 environment. I have a macBook Pro, 4GB ram,
2.4 Ghz. Before I upgraded to os 10.6 everything worked fine. Now, I
get an error when I try to save as a backward compatible file (word,
excel) such as the **.xls format when I am saving to a network share
location. I've called apple support and they didn't know anything
about it, and I called macffice tech support and they couldn't tell
me anything either. Here are the best answers I have for your
questions:

1. What type of server are you using? (MS exchange 2007)
Anything other than OS X and the file system running on the server?
(not applicable)
2. Simple mud-map of the folder design on the server (//eden/
officefiles/Publishing/PO Files/00 - PO Files/)
3. Mud-map of the network diagram between the server and the users
(I'm not sure how to give you this information. The server has a main
switch at the server, and then a secondary switch for my wing of the
building, and finally I have a switch at my desk that connects my
laptop and my phone. If I connect wirelessly it's the same setup,
except the wireless device is connected to the local switch for my
wing of the building)
4. How many concurrent users? (Typically 75)
5. Software version and level on the user¹s workstation? (Snow Leopard
10.6.1)
6. Network protocols enabled (Not sure)
7. Anything other than Word or Excel running on the user boxes? (It
happens whether there are other software running or not - I clean my
running programs and still there are problems, but here's a screenshot
of my current running programs

271 AirPort Base Station Agent jworf 0.0 4 912 KB Intel (64 bit) 22.6
MB
361 AppleSpell.service jworf 0.0 2 6.6 MB Intel (64 bit) 29.1 MB
2798 DashboardClient jworf 0.0 5 10.2 MB Intel (64 bit) 172.1 MB
2797 DashboardClient jworf 0.0 5 5.7 MB Intel 37.8 MB
238 Dock jworf 0.0 4 20.9 MB Intel (64 bit) 28.0 MB
240 Finder jworf 0.0 5 30.0 MB Intel (64 bit) 41.7 MB
256 fontd jworf 0.0 2 3.5 MB Intel (64 bit) 30.0 MB
277 iTunes Helper jworf 0.0 3 5.1 MB Intel (64 bit) 41.2 MB
234 launchd jworf 0.0 2 796 KB Intel (64 bit) 37.9 MB
40 loginwindow jworf 0.0 3 10.3 MB Intel (64 bit) 33.7 MB
6421 mdworker jworf 0.0 3 3.5 MB Intel (64 bit) 30.6 MB
244 pboard jworf 0.0 1 380 KB Intel (64 bit) 18.5 MB
278 Quıcĸsıɩⅴεʀ jworf 0.0 3 17.0 MB Intel 27.0 MB
6393 Safari jworf 0.0 8 76.0 MB Intel 75.5 MB
239 SystemUIServer jworf 0.2 3 16.0 MB Intel (64 bit) 61.5 MB
265 UserEventAgent jworf 0.0 3 4.1 MB Intel (64 bit) 32.6 MB


8. Anything else you can think of! (nada)

Also, when I got the apple site to report the bug, the site says there
was an error and the webpage won't show up (the site shows up, but
when I click the button to start entering the issue thats when it says
there is an error).

In addition to the problems mentioned above I am also experiencing
problems copying excel files from my local drive to the network share
(which I have full administrative privileges to). It allows me to copy
the file, but says the file that I copied has errors. Usually I'm able
to open the file, but once it totally corrupted the file.

I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Jason Worf
(e-mail address removed)
store.AmazingFacts.org

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Nosila]

I am having the same problem with Word 2004. One chapter in my PhD has embedded xl files and crashes on manual or auto save and no recovered document. File dates revert to US format in folders and keep changing. Changed the file to RTF then renamed on a different computer changed back to .doc made no difference. Please can someone help?