Excel file in use error, but the file is not in use!

Hello Astrohelp,

-when Excel has a file open it places a *.tmp in Windows\Temp folder
-when the file or Excel is closed, the *.tmp file should be deleted
-if not deleted, you will get the message you see about being open already by yourself
-this will generally happen only after a crash of Excel, which leaves the *.tmp file

-you could cleanup all files in the temp directory
-and try again

HAGD:O)Bruintje

Thanks.  We'll try that but we have over 100 computers in the business!  It's a file on a server that many people share.  BUT, it says it's being modified by MIS (which is us!) and we haven't touched it!

ok if you go to the server and look at file locked at the moment is it there in the list?

the server is a Solaris UNIX server.  We are help desk employees and don't know UNIX.  But if you have an idea, maybe we can tell our manager and he can unlock it.

A different IT person is in charge of this and he's off with family business today.  He had said something about an utility (?) one time when I had asked him about it.

Thanks for any help!  We really appreciate it!  

Have you rebooted since the problem first occurred?

Sometimes when Excel "crashes" it does not exit cleanly but continues to run hidden in the background.  In this case it can continue to hold files open.  

You can search for "Excel" in the "Processes" tab of the Task Manager (<Cntl>-<alt>-<del> and select the "Task Manager" button) to see if this is the case.  If "Excel" is present (and no other instance of Excel is running) you can clean this up by selecting Excel and clicking on the "End Process" button.  Of course, rebooting will also cure this condition.