False file in use error, files used in macro

[Jenawade]

For some reason, I occasionally receive the file in use error when I try to open an excel file (ever since our IT department upgraded my computer to Excel 2007) - when the file is NOT in use. Either I check with the coworker who is named as having the file open, or I'm listed myself and I haven't opened that file in days. I have recently taken over running a large, multi-part macro one of my coworkers created, but 2 out of 5 times something goes wrong with the data, and we're both wondering if it's because of that file in use error, as there is a lot of both reading and writing from various excel files. Does anyone know of a solution to this problem? Is there something I can add in the macro to accommodate the file in use message for a file the macro needs to write to?

 

[Jenawade]

Any ideas?

 

[xenou]

I would look for a temp file in the directory (I'm not sure why but it seems that Excel 2007 creates these temp files and that may be what's kicking the "file in use message").

In any case, this is generally the result of an improper exit or a crash. I would consider your code untrustworthy until you find out why this is happening - also I'd avoid running macros on files that actually do have a likelihood of being in use by other users (shared files, commonly accessed files in a department, and so on).

 

[Jenawade]

Thank you!

 

[xenou]

I like to keep my "private copies" of files that I run my code on, then copy to public folders to release "public" versions. But these are off course not shared files strictly speaking - just files I maintain that others are viewing (basically, reports or charts).