[Solved] document locked for editing

[RoryOF]

I'm a newbie here, so please be kind! New computer, windows 10 with OpenOffice 4.1.6. I'm trying to edit previous files with the new program and only sometimes, not all the time, get message "document locked for editing" and it will not allow me to save changes. I did not open it in 'read only'. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for the help!

[RoryOF]

Close OpenOffice. Move to the directory in which are the troublesome files, enable viewing of hidden files for that directory, and delete any files of the form

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.~lock.MyFile.odt#

Note that such files are small - a few hundred bytes, whereas the real file is 6KB or larger. The .odt might be .ods or some other file type.

[lmo46]

Thank you, I found some of those and deleted them.
May I ask another question? When I try to open a file, I sometimes get a message "currently don't have permission to access this file". Again it seems random when I get this. Any suggestions?

[RoryOF]

I can't help on that question with any certainty, as I don't use Windows. Perhaps you are not the "owner" of that file - although you may have made it on an earlier computer or version of Windows, perhaps you used a slightly different Windows logon name. Or perhaps it is in a directory to which you have not read/write permissions, although I think that error should show up as the file opening with "read only" in the title bar.

A Windows using volunteer may be able to help.

[RoryOF]

The Lock files mentioned above can be left after a program or computer crash - if that happens, save yourself hassle, look for and delete such lock files. Alternately they can be left after over-hasty power-off of the computer after shutting down OpenOffice, before the internal buffers of the hard disk have been written to the disk platters. After you get the "OK to power off" message, wait a few seconds for all disk activity to cease before cutting the power or snapping a laptop lid shut. Also, do not let a computer hibernate with an OO file open.

[lmo46]

Thank you.

[PeterButcher16]

I note the reply to Imo46 below. I'm using Windows 10 and OO 4.1.1

I was working on a 426KB document, saved my work and went back to it the next day. I tried to open the document and was met by a dialogue box headed: ASC11 Filter Options with properties listed as 'Character set, Default Fonts, Language and Paragraph Break.' Options were to click on 'OK, Cancel or Help'.

Clicking on 'OK' gives the following box:

'Document in use

Document File is Locked for Editing by
'Unknown user'
Open Document Read Only or open a copy for editing

Open - Read Only Open Copy Cancel'

When I click on 'Read Only' I get pages of ######################

Following the advice given to Imo46 I located the '.lock.filename.odt#' file in the appropriate directory, deleted this and rebooted the computer. Still cannot retrieve the document. Any ideas would be welcome.

[RoryOF]

Follow the methods in this tutorial
[Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files

Your file is corrupt, possibly because of your over-hasty power down of computer before hard disk had flushed its internal buffers to disk. There will be nothing usable in your file. But the above tutorial should help recover some or all of it. That failing, try Recuva or Photorec which may recover deleted files from your hard drive.

Edit: The advice on deleting the lock file was merely to allow the locked document be edited. It had nothing to do with a file being shown as ### marks.

[PeterButcher16]

I'm not familiar with Recuva or Photorec, but thanks anyway.

[RoryOF]

Download one or other (if necessary) and see what they can do. If the methods in the Tutorial cited did not help, one of these is your only hope.