Indesign "in use" problem when another Mac opens my files.

[Lefterisek]

Hello. 

In my company, we have multiple people working on the same Indesign project.

Every time i open a file that they had opened, i need to convert it, because i have a lower version of indesign, and then i need to save it (replace) on top of the other file.

My problem is that sometimes my collegues can't save the project because "its already open". It happens when i had previously opened that file and saved it, even if it was a few hours ago.

**Note that i have Indesign open, but not the project open.

Restarting my Mac helps but its not optimal.

I'm worndering if there is a fix .

Thanks 🙂

[Randy Hagan]

There are different things you can try, depending on where your InDesign projects are stored.

Are the project folders stored on your system/colleague system(s) and you're connected on a peer-to-peer network?

Are the project folders stored on a physical server (like a common computer connected to your network with a physical hard drive/solid state drive) through a local-area or wide-area network?

Are the project folders stored in a virtual "cloud" drive in-house or remotely through a cloud service (e.g. — Dropbox, Box, iCloud, OneDrive, etc.)?

Knowing where your project folders are stored is the first thing we need to know to be able to help you with your issues. If you could get back with us and let us know where your files are stored, we can take an educated shot at giving you a hand.

Randy

[Lefterisek]

The project folders are stored on a physical server.

It some times happens with PDF too, not just Indesign.

[Randy Hagan]

That's interesting. I have a couple of suggestions that may help for your the InDesign file issues.

When you open an InDesign file, you actually get two of them: the .indd file and a corresponding .idlk lock/temp file, which holds all the changes you make up to the point where you save and/or close the file and that information is transferred to the .indd file.

Ideally, when you close the .indd file, the .idlk file should disappear. Sometimes it doesn't. There are a couple of reasons why this might happen:

• There can be a flaw with how InDesign is working with your system that causes the .idlk file to hang, which incorrectly tells InDesign that the file is still open when in fact it isn't. InDesign assumes that if there's an associated lock file (generally named obscurely like ~AQO135585.idlk, whatever that means), the file is in use.
• Your network may be configured to save/archive .idlk files somehow, perhaps in a separate location other than the folder where the .indd file is stored, which makes this a matter of policy causing the conflict.

In either case, the immediate fix is to delete the .idlk lock files from the server.

• Close InDesign on all the systems on the network. This ensures that any .idlk file found is not associated with an open document.
• Search for any/all .idlk files on the server network drive(s). Don't be surprised if the server is polluted with a bunch of 'em.
• Kill them all. It's the only way to be sure.

Check with your IT folks to ensure there is no system policy conflict archiving .idlk lock files. Hopefully this will get you past the worst of your problems with InDesign files. On PDF files, the open .tmp files are generally stored locally. That would have to be addressed differently by your IT folks.

Hope this helps,

Randy

[kevin stohlmeyer]

This isnt an InDesign issue per se, this is a Mac OS to networked server/remote location issue.

It's been happening for year but has gotten progressively worse with the newer OSs (Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey).

The OS is not releasing/updating the data fork fast enough so the next user gets the "in use by another user" error and also why restaring your Mac fixes it.

Restarting your Mac breaks the connection from the OS hold on the server.

Your best option is to drag local, edit, save then drag back to server or invest in a DAM system to manage your files.

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @Lefterisek,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. As others suggested, this could happen because of lag/delay in sync, so you can try making the file available locally on your system and once you have completed the work, you can add it to the shared location.

Regards

Rishabh