Indesign Lock File

[arminz39169079]

Hello,

How can i delete idlk lock file (Cs6)??

[amaarora]

Hi,

Like you delete all other files?

When you open an InDesign file it creates an idlk (indesign lock) file until you close the file. This prevents that the same file is not opened simultaneously.

-Aman

[arminz39169079]

Hi,

Normally, the file closes automatically when I finish the program
but i cantand the file is blocked !!

[John Mensinger · Accepted solution]

Locate the .idlk file (in the same directory as the locked .indd), select it, and tap the delete key. Confirm the deletion if necessary. Once the .idlk file is gone, the .indd will open.

[arminz39169079]

hello John,

I´ll try it,
have to do it again and  again  or only one time ?

[John Mensinger]

arminz39169079  wrote

...again and  again  or only one time ?

When things are working correctly, you should never have to delete the .idlk file; it should be deleted automatically when the InDesign application is (properly) terminated. So, unless something is wrong with your installation, or you're not quitting InDesign properly, you should not have to do it again and again.

[Randy Hagan]

You may want to try File>Save As menu command and save the file to your computer desktop with a (slightly) different name.

If that works, close InDesign. Use your search capabilities in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) to search your entire computer (and network/cloud drives separately, if necessary — but be sure that nobody else in your organization is also using InDesign, because there's potentially much horror to be had if things go wrong) to search for "*.idlk" and find all the leftover InDesign Lock files on your system.

Kill them all. It's the only way to be sure.

Then reopen InDesign, open your saved file on the desktop. This would be the one with all your latest changes. If you'd like, use the File>Save As menu command again to navigate your way to the previous file location for the document, then save it over the previous version using the same name.

Hopefully this will get you past your problem.

Randy

[Barb Binder]

To better understand the situation:

The .idlk file is present when the file is open, to prohibit another person from working on the same file at the same time. Imagine if you and a co-worker both opened the same file and entered edits. Then one person saves the file. A few minutes later the second person saves the file. Whoever saved second would overwrite the first person's edits. Not a good scenario, and the .idlk file (or lock file) keeps this from happening. The file deletes itself when you close the file properly.

If InDesign crashes, the .idlk file may linger. In that case, delete it manually as per John's first response.

[Eccentric_contributor5CCF]

We recently upgraded to the latest version of InDesign. Ever since, many .idlk files are not deleting themselves when we close the file properly. They are lingering and sometimes we are having problems manually deleting the .idlk file as well. This is happening at least a dozen times a week with different users. It even happens to the person who originally created the file. Any idea why this is happening and how we can resolve it? 

[KarenPICK]

What if the file is locked but I can't find an idlk file?

[Mukhlis5C90]

I suddenly can't open my indesign cc 2020 file and bridge is showing locked. I tried looking for the .idlk file but I can't find it?!!! Pleae help, the locked file is a book of 435 pages and very hard to re-cread again!

[Test Screen Name]

It may be quicker to restore this from your backups than worry about why it is locked.

[Randy Hagan]

Please refer to my post above to kill all existing .idlk files on your system and network/cloud drive locations.

Once all the .idlk files are gone, hopefully you will be able to get back in your InDesign document file.