Files locking when no one is in them

[NinaBR]

Hi, I recently upgraded to FrameMaker 2022 and had some problems (see this post). FM was struggling to pull in referenced images that were stored on our server. The solution was to put everything in Dropbox.

FM is now able to pull the images, but whenever I try to update the book, it's saying it can't update because a lot of the files are locked. I know they aren't locked--I'm the sole FrameMaker user at our company and the files aren't even open.

It will say that, for instance, Chapters 5 and 7 are locked. I'll go in and unlock them, run the Update Book, and then it will say that Chapters 3, 4, 8, and 10 are locked. I've gone into the file explorer and deleted the .LCK files manually, but new ones get created when I try to update the file again. I'll literally click Update Book and then watch as the .LCK files appear in my file list.

No matter how many times I update the .LCK files, new ones pop up and I'm never able to complete a book update.

I am wondering if the problem is the fact that the files are on Dropbox, though I can't imagine why that would be the case. If it is, then we will need to find a different workaround for the issue of FM not pulling in referenced files from the server.

[Bob_Niland]

It sounds like FM is either confused about who is identified in the .lck file, can see it, but not open it, or can open it, but getting some error on read.

You might open a .lck file with notepad and see what's in it. It's probably going to look something like:
UserID/UserID/YourPCname/Tuesday, December 17, 2024 11:14:20/1734455660/1/

[NinaBR]

Thanks! I'm not sure why it's confused, but I was able to turn off the setting to lock files.

[Jeff_Coatsworth · Accepted solution]

Are you the sole author accessing these files? If so, then you can turn off the locking files option in the Preferences. If you're not the only one editing, then I think you need to look into some sort of file control system so that you can check out files while working on them.

[NinaBR]

Thanks! This solved the problem!

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

While I love Dropbox as a file transfer service, I don't trust it as a file sharing/network service.

For example, when I share the Dropbox link to a PDF, the link is out of date if I replace the file with an updated PDF.

Too much is going on under the hood for me to trust that my FrameMaker docs will stay properly wired together if managed/updated on Dropbox.

That said, here's a thread that discusses this setting 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker-discussions/framemaker-2020-impossible-to-use-when-files-h...

Maybe it will help you...

[NinaBR]

Thanks for the link!

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Rina,

I had this issue in the past, but it was solved by a FrameMaker upgrade. Do you have the lastest one? At least 17.0.3. Check Help | About .

Best regards, Winfried

[NinaBR]

Hi, Winifred. I upgraded again last week and am currently using 17.0.5.725. Maybe the next upgrade will help. For the time being, I have turned off the function to lock files. Thanks!