emcguire@cadfx.ccad.uiowa.edu (Ed McGuire) (08/16/90)
Our secretaries are pulling their hair out. They are revising an MS
Word document, passing revised copies between their hard drives via
diskette. Three times within the last week, they have lost changes
made in the document.
They claim that when they copy the newest edition from one disk to
another--replacing an obsolete edition on the target disk--the obsolete
edition hangs around. When they open the new document on the target
disk, sometimes the obsolete edition is gotten in the editor, even
though the last modified date was changed on the desktop. This happens
infrequently enough and the editions are similar enough that they have
made corrections to the obsolete edition instead of the new edition
without realizing it, and propagated the changed file to everybody
else. Thus the earlier corrections are lost.
I've not been able to reproduce the problem, but I did see something
very suspicious when they showed it to me. Two editions of the file
were on a diskette. Neither was open in Word, but Word was memory
resident (they use Multifinder). One could not be thrown away ("locked
or in use"). The other was supposed to be the newest edition--and the
modified date reflected that--but, when opened in Word, the text
displayed was clearly obsolete (or so they told me). When I Quit from
Word I was able to throw away the one, and when I reloaded Word and
opened the other, suddenly the text displayed was current.
I called Microsoft. I was advised by the guy I spoke to that he had
seen similar behavior before under numerous applications. The scenario
he described was: with Multifinder running, close a file that you
opened in an application. Then immediately switch to finder.
Sometimes you get "locked or in use" if you try to throw it away.
Evidently the desktop is not getting updated immediately. An
inconsistency in the desktop might explain why I could get a "deleted"
obsolete version of a file too.
Can anybody shed more light on this problem, before our secretaries go
bald? I'd be more than grateful!
---
peace. -- Ed
"Come in, God." (Navy Seals)austing@Apple.COM (Glenn L. Austin) (08/16/90)
emcguire@cadfx.ccad.uiowa.edu (Ed McGuire) writes: >I've not been able to reproduce the problem, but I did see something >very suspicious when they showed it to me. Two editions of the file >were on a diskette. Neither was open in Word, but Word was memory >resident (they use Multifinder). One could not be thrown away ("locked >or in use"). The other was supposed to be the newest edition--and the >modified date reflected that--but, when opened in Word, the text >displayed was clearly obsolete (or so they told me). When I Quit from >Word I was able to throw away the one, and when I reloaded Word and >opened the other, suddenly the text displayed was current. Not surprising, since Word doesn't always close its files (it hasn't since 1.05). >I called Microsoft. I was advised by the guy I spoke to that he had >seen similar behavior before under numerous applications. The scenario >he described was: with Multifinder running, close a file that you >opened in an application. Then immediately switch to finder. >Sometimes you get "locked or in use" if you try to throw it away. >Evidently the desktop is not getting updated immediately. An >inconsistency in the desktop might explain why I could get a "deleted" >obsolete version of a file too. If you call "FlushVol", the desktop is updated. Period. >Can anybody shed more light on this problem, before our secretaries go >bald? I'd be more than grateful! Sure. Quit Word before copying files edited in Word. Or switch word processors... ;-) -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Glenn L. Austin | "Turn too soon, run out of room, | | Auto Racing Enthusiast and | Turn too late, much better fate" | | Communications Toolbox Hacker | - Jim Russell Racing School Instructors | | Apple Computer, Inc. | "Drive slower, race faster" - D. Waltrip | | Internet: austing@apple.com |-------------------------------------------| | AppleLink: AUSTIN.GLENN | All opinions stated above are mine -- | | Bellnet: (408) 974-0876 | who else would want them? | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam.Frix@p2.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) (08/19/90)
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--
--
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