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Visa - Sync Centre Woes (Sync Conflicts)

We are testing Windows Vista Ultimate within on two machines within our corporation and are having a few issues with network files.

We have set a couple of folders to be available offline using the Sync centre and its causing us nothing but problems.  Frequently when we edit a file on the network share (ie even wehn connected to the network) it seems to open the caqched version of the file and whilst edited allows other users to access and change the network version, resulting in sync conflicts.

We used the folder synchronisation tool in Windows XP and never experienced this issue.  Most of the files are used for reference information and so when accessed when connected to the network should lock the file for viewing only on other machines.  They are rarely (if ever) changed when offline.  

Is there a fix for this, ie to make vista always use the network version of the files when connected to the network?

Help would be greatly appreciated as its become a real issue.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

G

UPDATE:
Some further info...

If we open a file that has been syncronised on the vista machine and then try to open the same file from the network the second user does not get the message that the file has been locked for editing.  So I guess this just goes to show that the vista machine is using the cached copy rather than the network copy.  There has to be a way to turn this off.  Ie when connected to the network to use and lock the network file...

Please.....

G
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stormytoad
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Another thing that you might want to check is to make sure that the server Share permissions allow full control for the users.  I never used Full Control with XP, but Vista Offline files require it on the "Share" permissions.
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GlenmoranUK

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Finally we have an authoritive answer from the microsoft message board.  The response I got was:

This is a known interop issue with Offline Files and xls
files.
..xls files are in something that Offline Files calls a "Sparse Exclusion
List." When such a file with an extension in the list is made available
offline and then opened simultaneously on two machines, it ends up going
offline on the first machine. This is why there is no sharing violation
message.
Unfortunately, the only remedies I can suggest are-
1. Don't make xls files available offline. The sharing semantics should work
fine if Offline Files is not involved.
2. Remove xls file from the sparse exclusion list. However this will mean
that in a sharing scenario, instead of going offline, the file will be
kicked out of the cache and will no longer be available offline.

So basically its a new "feature"!  We have switched back to XP as for us this is a show stopper..