I have a document on a share drive that I need to delete, but when I 
right-click and select delete I receive the error message: 

Error Deleting File or Folder: 
Cannot delete (name of my doc goes here): it is being used by another person 
or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.

There is no one accessing the file, and on one of my attempts I received a 
message that the document was locked by Normal.dot. I tried to delete 
normal.dot just to see if it would break the connection but it did not.  I 
have since restored normal.dot, but still cannot delete the file.  Does 
anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your assistance. 

Have you tried restarting your computer?

-- 
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via NNTP)



"mrod21mvp" <mrod21mvp@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:01570FEA-E17D-402B-AC30-A6AD73F7B9D6@microsoft.com...
>I have a document on a share drive that I need to delete, but when I
> right-click and select delete I receive the error message:
>
> Error Deleting File or Folder:
> Cannot delete (name of my doc goes here): it is being used by another person
> or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.
>
> There is no one accessing the file, and on one of my attempts I received a
> message that the document was locked by Normal.dot. I tried to delete
> normal.dot just to see if it would break the connection but it did not.  I
> have since restored normal.dot, but still cannot delete the file.  Does
> anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your assistance. 

If restarting doesn't fix it (as Stefan suggested), try this. 
First, set your Explorer options to show hidden files. 
Then open the directory that the file is in and see if there's a hidden file 
with ~$ substituted for the first two characters of the file name. (For 
example, if your file is "testfile.doc," look for a file named 
~$stfile.doc.") 
If you find a file with that name, delete it. 
Then close out of Word (and Outlook if it uses Word as it's e-mail editor). 
When you come back in, you ought to be able to access your file.

"mrod21mvp" wrote:

> I have a document on a share drive that I need to delete, but when I 
> right-click and select delete I receive the error message: 
> 
> Error Deleting File or Folder: 
> Cannot delete (name of my doc goes here): it is being used by another person 
> or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.
> 
> There is no one accessing the file, and on one of my attempts I received a 
> message that the document was locked by Normal.dot. I tried to delete 
> normal.dot just to see if it would break the connection but it did not.  I 
> have since restored normal.dot, but still cannot delete the file.  Does 
> anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your assistance. 

Good point. See also http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm.

-- 
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via NNTP)



"Jerry" <Jerry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:4FED1AA6-E10C-466D-8711-5A50D803CF8D@microsoft.com...
> If restarting doesn't fix it (as Stefan suggested), try this.
> First, set your Explorer options to show hidden files.
> Then open the directory that the file is in and see if there's a hidden file
> with ~$ substituted for the first two characters of the file name. (For
> example, if your file is "testfile.doc," look for a file named
> ~$stfile.doc.")
> If you find a file with that name, delete it.
> Then close out of Word (and Outlook if it uses Word as it's e-mail editor).
> When you come back in, you ought to be able to access your file.
>
> "mrod21mvp" wrote:
>
>> I have a document on a share drive that I need to delete, but when I
>> right-click and select delete I receive the error message:
>>
>> Error Deleting File or Folder:
>> Cannot delete (name of my doc goes here): it is being used by another person
>> or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.
>>
>> There is no one accessing the file, and on one of my attempts I received a
>> message that the document was locked by Normal.dot. I tried to delete
>> normal.dot just to see if it would break the connection but it did not.  I
>> have since restored normal.dot, but still cannot delete the file.  Does
>> anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your assistance.