BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[rh3522]

A lot of times I, or someone else in our 3 person office will attempt to open an excel Document, only to be met with the errounous message that it is locked for editing, and is available to read only. This often happens when we KNOW the file has yet to be opened for the day, and there are no  files with the "~$" sign indicating a tempory folder has even been created..

How we usually remedy the problem is by logging out of windows and logging back in. Or we edit the read only file and save it to another file, and then replace the older file with the original one. You can see how this time consuming work around is a problem in itself.

I looked through out this forum and have yet to see anyone with a similar problem..

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

[RAsg]

Hello,

I have had the same issue but it is mainly because someone else on the network has the .docx open or Word thinks some aspect of the doc is still open somewhere. This can occur with just shares on the network shares with out even using a NAS.  

Sometimes if a user closes Word or Excel and it doesn't close properly you can end up with this same issue.  That may be why a log off and log back on works or a reboot, because it does a clean up.  It is not a NAS issue though.

[titanus]

RH3522: We have exactly the same problem at my office. Same symptons, nobody's opened the files at all, and we have to do the same workaround to solve it, nearly every day. We didn't have this problem with the previous file server. I've tried looking everywhere but I haven't found a solution either. Have you found anything? People around here are so fed up I've offered to buy a new NAS (different brand, obviously) if this doesn't get solved before New Year's.

[CyberMaxX]

Hi titanus -

Always easier on the forum community in general if detailed information is supplied if your looking for an answer. 

IE: What version of Excel?  What Version of Windows and at what Service Pack Level.

This issue is quite common and has been posted around the internet, not only when accessing files from a NAS but from Servers running various OS's and even on Local Drives that are being shared out.

Here's some samples: from when I Googled "Excel File locked for editing by another user" and did some searches on support.microsoft.com

Found some solutions here if your using Excel 2007, here if your running Vista, and here in regards to the error in general.

Plus found quite a few mentions of this problem being stated here.

It could also be your Virus Scanning Software see Here, or even Windows Explorer itself if it is being used to open the files see here or even if it's used to just search for files across a network share see here.

Don't think it's necessarily an issue with the Seagate Blackarmor NAS in general from the looks of all the posts - it's just an issue with Microsoft Office products in general with really no clear solution being stated.

Cheers