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From: Adam.Frix@p2.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: files not getting closed
Message-ID: <66965.26D14DD5@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG>
Date: 18 Aug 90 17:53:19 GMT
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Ed Mcguire   writes in a message on 08/15/90 at 19:26:33 ...

EM>  Our secretaries are pulling their hair out.  They are revising 
EM>  an MS Word document, passing revised copies between their hard 
EM>  drives via diskette.  Three times within the last week, they 
EM>  have lost changes made in the document. 
EM>  They claim that when they copy the newest edition from one disk 
EM>  to another--replacing an obsolete edition on the target disk--the 
EM>  obsolete edition hangs around.  When they open the new document 
EM>  on the target disk, sometimes the obsolete edition is gotten 
EM>  in the editor, even though the last modified date was changed 
EM>  on the desktop.  This happens infrequently enough and the editions 
EM>  are similar enough that they have made corrections to the obsolete 
EM>  edition instead of the new edition without realizing it, and 
EM>  propagated the changed file to everybody else.  Thus the earlier 
EM>  corrections are lost. 
EM>  I've not been able to reproduce the problem, but I did see something v
EM>  ery suspicious when they showed it to me.  Two editions of the 
EM>  file were on a diskette.  Neither was open in Word, but Word 
EM>  was memory resident (they use Multifinder).  One could not be 
EM>  thrown away ("locked or in use").  The other was supposed to 
EM>  be the newest edition--and the modified date reflected that--but, 
EM>  when opened in Word, the text displayed was clearly obsolete 
EM>  (or so they told me).  When I Quit from Word I was able to throw 
EM>  away the one, and when I reloaded Word and opened the other, 
EM>  suddenly the text displayed was current. 
EM>  I called Microsoft.  I was advised by the guy I spoke to that 
EM>  he had seen similar behavior before under numerous applications. 
EM>   The scenario he described was:  with Multifinder running, close 
EM>  a file that you opened in an application.  Then immediately 
EM>  switch to finder. Sometimes you get "locked or in use" if you 
EM>  try to throw it away. Evidently the desktop is not getting updated 
EM>  immediately.  An inconsistency in the desktop might explain 
EM>  why I could get a "deleted" obsolete version of a file too. 
EM>  Can anybody shed more light on this problem, before our secretaries 
EM>  go bald?  I'd be more than grateful!

Word doesn't completely close files it has been working on until Word is quit
completely.  I suspect this is the problem.  Your secretaries or whatever have
been making changes, closing the document windows with the close box or the
Close menu command, switching to the Finder, and copying the files.  Alas, for
complete updating to occur, Word must be completely Quit.  The files are considered
busy until that happens.

--Adam--
 

--  
Adam Frix via cmhGate - Net 226 fido<=>uucp gateway Col, OH
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