Files Being Locked

[cwhitley]

I commented on this the other day & tried the fix suggested by a very helpful member, but it didn't work. My documents are being locked & then I can't open them. As these are chapters in my new book, it's scary. Any ideas why this might be happening & how I could fix it? I understand that the files must be getting corrupted somehow but no idea how or why.

TIA!

[RoryOF]

This is almost certainly a User problem - something in your method of working/closing down OpenOffice. I suggest that you adopt this approach: do not allow your computer to sleep/hibernate with your file open. Use OpenOffice's /File /Close, then, after a short pause (five/ten seconds) use OpenOffice's /File /Exit to close OpenOffice. Then use the computer's formal shut down procedure and again wait five/ten seconds for all disk activity to cease before closing the lap[top lid or killing the computer power.

[RusselB]

Corruption of files is usually due to an unexpected closure of Open Office before it can complete the housekeeping chores.
Possibilities for this happening include, but are not limited to: laptop battery running out of power, automatic reboot after updates (usually Windows), computer going into sleep/hibernation mode
I don't know what you tried, as I don't know who made what suggestion(s), due to the fact that you have started a new topic, rather than continuing the conversation in the original topic.
That said, the usual reason for files to be locked, is that Open Office still sees the lock files in your default save directory.
These files contain very little information, as they are only used to prevent the same file from being able to be edited from more than one location at the same time.
These files are usually deleted when Open Office has completed it's housekeeping, indicating that the associated file has been saved correctly.
While you are using Windows, the item at Q16/A16 in the Mac FAQ seems relevant.

[Bill]

I commented on this the other day & tried the fix suggested by a very helpful member, but it didn't work. My documents are being locked & then I can't open them. As these are chapters in my new book, it's scary. Any ideas why this might be happening & how I could fix it? I understand that the files must be getting corrupted somehow but no idea how or why.

TIA!

If you mean the file described in Problem 2 in the other topic, that file isn't a locked file. It is a "lock file" which always appears when someone opens a user file. It contains information about who has the file open and should disappear when the file is closed normally. Lock files are used by OpenOffice and there is normally no reason for a user to open a lock file.

[cwhitley]

Thanks for your help. I started a new thread since the first problem was solved. I still don't really understand why this just started when I've been using Open Office for several years without experiencing it but will certainly try your suggestions.

[RoryOF]

A file corruption will usually manifest as inability to open the file or the ASCII filter message and the file being shown as ### chars. This situation is extremely serious and often (usually?) results in complete or partial loss of file content. A file opening as "locked" can quickly be retrieved by Save As under another file name (Chapter1a in place of Chapter1, for example). However, it is worth finding the cause for the lock file (differentiate from "the locked file") not being removed. The suggestions I made earlier in this thread may help.

My experience: I have written over 5 million words in the last ten years with OpenOffice and only experienced file difficulties after unexpected close downs (very rare power cuts usually due to storm outages)