Inspiring

Answered

"Could not save (file name) because the file is already in use or left open."

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
February 1, 2009
49 replies
141707 views

Hello,
When I tried save as a file, I get an error msg:
"Could not save (file name) because the file is already in use or left open."

The file is not open anywhere accept Photoshop.

Mac Pro, OSX 10.5.6
Photoshop CS4.

I searched the forum but could not find anything even though i'm sure someone already asked it.

would love to get a solution for that.
thank you,
shlomit

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Chris Cox

If Photoshop says the file is open - then some external process has left the file open. It has nothing to do with it being open in Photoshop, or even in Bridge. This has happened sometimes when Spotlight had bugs (which have come up more than once, and been fixed in OS dot releases).

The external process could be another application, or an OS service like Spotlight.

Show previous replies

M

michaeld16946519

Participant

Hello everyone, I Got it to stop!

I have been getting the same notice for some time now and it is super annoying. However I tried turning off my cloud storage client (google drive) which creates these weird meta files for my open adobe files. Once I turned off the client it stopped trying to sync the file to cloud and allowed my to save my InDesign file normally.

So if you haven't already tried it could be that you need to save the document to a physical hardrive, or just turn off your cloud client to get it to stop auto syncing.

Hope this helps, and I hope Adobe figures this out some day because it is really annoying.

DigitalChaser®

Participant

Could Not Save "File" because the file is already in use or was left open. This is what the issue is and how to workaround it!

Could Not Save "File" Because The File Is Already In Use Or Was Left Open - YouTube

This is the error message I got recently when trying to save a file in Photoshop, I then searched for the fix and found various suggestions and none fixed the issue that seem to be on quiet a few message boards... Here is what I found! The issue is not Adobe Photoshop are the software on Adobe's end the software is still sound as ever!!!

Step 1 - When saving you probably like me have various windows and files open in the background of your project...

Step 2- The File is already in use or was left open. message is caused by Finder® on a Mac OS systems, When you have column view the icon preview is what causing this error message to generate!

Step 3 - Finder® has the option to show items as icons, in a list, in columns, or with Cover Flow. The issue is when you have your Finder® Window set to "Column" View and your image are file is being used by Finder®

Step 4 - Select "Icons" are simply close the columns view for Finder®

Step - 5 Now that the window for column view is closed the "Command Save" will work as normal and seems to have solved the error issue!

...and Done!

After much head banging and uninstalling and re-installing this seems to be the major issue the software was having with the OS Finder® Until the issue is resolved the best work around is too not use the "Column" while using Finder® "Icon" view also works just fine. I hope this helps ~DigitalChaser Media

Could Not Save "File" Because The File Is Already In Use Or Was Left Open - YouTube

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Digital Chaser drew:

Beautiful line art. I'd give my right arm to be able to draw like that, but then I'd have to learn to drawn with my left hand, and be back where I started.

Michael, that's useful information about cloud storage confusing file explorer. Thanks for the feedback.

andyb54991979

Participant

In our case it looks like it was the QNAP Net backup tool which was causing the issue

really strange as it was throwing the error on Save as. surely nothing could be using a file that did not yet exist.. go figure

as soon as I killed the Net backup everything went back to normal.. except for my backup routing

D

David Goorevitch

Participating Frequently

Try deselecting the preview in finder. That worked for me.

lester_dm

Participating Frequently

I would have been nice someone from Adobe responded.

It is also nice to see the bug is STILL THERE in the newest version of Photoshop CC (2014)

I really don't get it...

Try the Facebookpage and send a bug report now I suppose?

I don't know what to do else...

Kind Regards,
Lester.

Noel Carboni

Legend

I had what I thought might be this very problem for the first time yesterday, but it turned out to be this forum software at fault.

Specifically I annotated a screen grab in Photoshop, saved a PNG, and closed the document from Photoshop. I uploaded the screen grab PNG image into a forum post. Then I noticed an error I'd made in the image, so I made another screen grab and went through the whole process again. When I went to "Save As" the image to the same filename again, Photoshop claimed I wasn't allowed because the file was open. However, the real problem turned out to be that the forum uploader process hadn't let loose of the file after finishing the upload (not surprising, this forum software is ridiculously buggy). Closing the Internet Explorer window freed up my ability to save the file again.

I've kept an eye out for this problem, and I just haven't seen it happen with Photoshop. I've worked with lots of files and I've worked with very large files. I've also worked with the latest release quite a bit. No problems.

Some possibly pertinent facts: I have disabled Windows Indexing, because it doesn't work right or well anyway and I have a fast I/O subsystem which is happy to produce results from an honest search (opposed to indexed) immediately anyway. I also don't use Microsoft's "File History" feature, preferring instead to rely on a real backup solution. Is it possible Microsoft's Indexing or File History features are interfering on others' systems? I can't say. Could it be systems with slower I/O subsystems may experience timing problems I'm not seeing here? That seems unlikely, because every system has different timing, but it's within the realm of possibility.

Those of you experiencing the problem need to carefully consider what it is you have set up on your systems - anti-malware software, disk management software, OS feature settings, etc. I'd suggest listing your even remotely pertinent settings, software, etc. here because though the problem may be obvious to you, it's not happening everywhere and others are simply not able to reproduce it.

I wish you the best of luck. I know I would not be able to stand having this kind of problem.

-Noel

lester_dm

Participating Frequently

Hi people,

To Noel:

First of all, thank you very much for the sympathy! I was glad to read your positive opinion.

I also understand it's hard to provide a working solution if the problem can not be reproduced.

I now have disabled 'Microsoft's Indexing'. And it seems to work right now. Photoshop saves the files as it should be in 1 click again.

Knock on wood and hope it stays this way. I don't experience extra problems in Windows with the disabled search indexing too.

I followed this, it might come in handy for others with the same problem working on Windows 7.

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/disable-search-indexing-in-windows-7/

It seems to be solved with my colleague also. I tested it by saving a whole bunch of psb's starting from 1/2 GIG and doubling up to about 30 GIG.

No problem anymore.

Thanx Noel, keep up the good work!

To Chris:

You don't have any idea how much time we already lost with this terrible BUG.

We have to process A LOT of images up here. (in fashion: artwork on clothes, print, web, mobile, etc.)

Each season you get to find 2 people here (with the same problem), groaning, moaning and complaining like 2 stressed-out muppets.

Now I took the time to read this gigantic thread and to write my post. Probably you are tired as hell of people saying this issue is a bug in Photoshop while

not finding a proper solution or not be able to reproduce the problem. I understand, I really do!

But like I said, the (by now) "standard" answer you provide doesn't help us. It looks like you didn't read my post very good.

My doubts remain of not being a bug in Photoshop. (or an unsolved issue)

Were it keeps failing on a "save" or a "save as", "save for the web" ALWAYS worked.

Now where lies the difference then? The OS is the same.

I stick to my opinion on this issue. It is not up to us to tweak our operating system (or install other software to unlock files) to make Photoshop work.

We never had to before. A better cooperation with Windows or Apple would be better. But who am I to say so?

Anyway I hope it stays like it is right now.

Peace Chris!

Have a nice day!

Kind Regards,

Lester.

lester_dm

Participating Frequently

Hello people,

Here another one experiencing this annoying error when trying to save files.

Is it Windows, Mac, Adobe? I really don't know.

I am not here to blame someone. I just want a proper solution.

As you can see people are having this issue for at least 5 years now.

What I can say is:

- I am using a desktop Quadcore 64 bit PC with Windows 7, Photoshop CC. 6 GIG RAM installed.

- I am not working across a network.

- My file is not opened elsewhere. Windows Explorer is closed, Bridge is closed. So I am not having a preview somewhere which could maybe cause this error.

- It's a Windows machine, so it's not Spotlight or Coverflow.

- I use a lot of apps from Creative Cloud, I never had any problems saving with all the other applications. If it would be a Windows or Mac issue, wouldn't I have experienced the same errors with the other apps like Illustrator, Flash, Indesign, etc...? In my scenario this error ONLY occurs in Photoshop.

- If the problem is caused by the OS, isn't it a coincidence that Windows and Mac users are having the exact same problem?

- When having these errors, it seems the bigger the files are the more frequent I get this error.

Now I'm actually stuck from yesterday now. I can't save my psb-file anymore. (2,79 GIG)

Yes it is big, the psb-file is holding 13 high-res images to work in. This was never a problem before.

As I have read a psb can go to 4 exabytes (= 4 million terrabytes), so this can't be the problem.

Is it maybe possible to re-create my scenario? I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the size of the file.

This is maybe the reason it is hard to re-create the error? I don't know.

With smaller files I (almost) never see this error.

Wheither I am saving to psd or psb, the error stays.

- I have enough space on my harddisk for the (possible) needed temp-files to be created too.

What I have tried so far:

-"Save as" (with a new name) doesn't work.

- Save to another location doesn't work either. Which in the past could solve it.

- Even saving it as a "JPG" doesn't seem to work anymore.

- Sometimes when I save the file and getting the good old error, I can see a temp file created with a weird name with ".tmp' as extension.

If I rename the file (+ adding the correct extension), sometimes if I'm lucky I can use the file. Sometimes not.

- As mentioned in the forum, I downloaded a "unlocker" software. Tried, no luck.

- In Photoshop "Preferences/File Handling" I unchecked "Save in Background", no luck.

- In Photoshop "Preferences/File Handling" I changed "Image Previews" to "Never Save", no luck.

- Reinstalled Photoshop, no luck.

Does anyone please has some more possibilities to try?

And yes, I realize the error points to ANOTHER APPLICATION. An EXTERNAL problem.
A good thing that Photoshop gives you an error description instead of a 'wrong' save.

What am I supposed to do? In my case contact Windows? And be pointed back again to Adobe?

This only happens in Photoshop (CS5.5 and CC) on two different operating systems.

I never, ever see this error with other software. Or like I said even other software from Adobe.

My colleague has exactly the same issue but with 1 difference, he has CS5.5 installed instead of CC.

Don't get me wrong Chris. I love the whole Adobe Package very, very much.

I think Photoshop is an amazing program, IT IS magic!

But this issue is a pain in the #ss BIGTIME.

I think more (deeper) research on this subject has to come from you guys, not Windows or Apple.

Even if it is an OS-issue, wouldn't you want to know what is going on?

Pointing us to Windows or Apple is not a solution for us.

You guys from Adobe have more power than we do towards Windows and Apple to get to the bottom of this, at last.

A big peace Adobe!

And please help

Kind Regards.

Lester.

B

BJN3

Participating Frequently

I've also never seen this problem with any other application. Nothing else in the Adobe suite. Only Photoshop. I haven't run into the error in a while (knock wood) and I'm sorry to see it's still out there.

C

christina_caldwell

Participant

Although i see Chris is very passionate about blaming other applications, I found the error to in fact be within PhotoShop. Along with others, I was able to solve this issue by turning off "Save in Background" and changing "Image Previews" to "Never Save".

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

Could it be that you misunderstand what is happening and it is actually the OS that messes up when Photosshop is saving files?

Or are you fairly certain you understand the issue better than an actual programmer with decades of experience like Mr.Cox?

B

boo_radley_2013

Inspiring

This is happening to me as well.

I will try to save an image, so I select 'save as' and I give it a new filename. Then when I hit 'save' the error message pops up. So I then repeat the process (save as, give it a new filename again, hit save again) and then it works. Happens randomly, but more often than not. The file isn't open in any other application. I can't figure it out.

I

IzeB

Participant

I had the same problem, I disabled the "save in background feature" which totally remove the problem in a blink of an eye.

This feels to to me that that background process is the bad guy here. It sais the file has been changed since you last opened or saved it.

Changed, but not by me or any other outside program, changed by the Photoshop save in background feature.

Can anyone confirm/reproduce this?

I didn't have time to read this huge the whole thread so if this been discussed before, i apologize!

I really would like the Autosave feature to work though, hope this hint helps someone.

G

grndrm

Participant

IzeB wrote:
I had the same problem, I disabled the "save in background feature" which totally remove the problem in a blink of an eye.
This feels to to me that that background process is the bad guy here. It sais the file has been changed since you last opened or saved it.
Changed, but not by me or any other outside program, changed by the Photoshop save in background feature.
Can anyone confirm/reproduce this?
I didn't have time to read this huge the whole thread so if this been discussed before, i apologize!
I really would like the Autosave feature to work though, hope this hint helps someone.

I can confirm this. Using Win7 and Photoshop CS6. Never had the problem before today. Turning off the Save in Background stops the error message.

It started after I copied several site folders to a new drive. Using Photoshop as always but now when saving I get the error "Could not save "E:\...\filename.pds" because the file is already in use or was left open by another application."

It now occurs with a given PSD file on the orig C: drive and the new E: drive. With background save activated, the only way to save to the same filename is by choosing save while closing Photoshop. Very frustrating since the autosave function is important to me.

M

MaMamiya33

Participant

I had an idea and it worked for me:

From within folder (or on desktop)

View> Show View Options> un-check "show icon preview"

G4 Mac running OS X 10.4.11 and Photoshop CS2.

I was using Leaf Capture software for photography. Saved as tiff (8 bit and 16 bit) and opened directly in Photoshop. No other programs were running. Saved directly to desktop. Photoshop would not allow me to resave after making edits "Could not save because file is already in use..." I would have to save under different name or file type. Also, trash would not empty after deleting these original files for same error.

I've looked forever without finding a solution until I thought of this. If anyone else can't find an answer, try this.

K

Koxl

Participant

I can recommend a simple trick for all you working with Indesign.

All you have to do is to Tab click from Psh to InD, directly select (A) the frame content (your working photo) and simply move it once then Undo (Ctrl-Z) to/or move it back. Its that simple and keeps Psh saving normaly for a long period.

Maybe someone has come with it already, didnt read all thread ...

Chris Cox

Legend

You mean that makes InDesign let go of the file it shouldn't have held open in the first place?

K

Koxl

Participant

No.

I set layout in InD. First placing unprocessed images in document, then opening them in Ps (Edit original) and adjusting them.

Occasionaly this specific error occures and made me freak out, since i had to save a worked file under a different name, relink it and close Ps, then reload it again.

But i found this little simple trick discribed above. I just move a direct selected image in an InD picture frame (two simple direction clicks, left-right) and processed file in Ps can now be normally saved.

I can see that error happens in different situations, but i hope that this specific trick can help you solve a problem.

A

Anonymous

This is a Photoshop problem, I have no doubt.

I am a Window user and looked here for a clue of the problem and see that Mac users have the same issue.

This has been a problem since I started with Photoshop 6.

I create a master Photoshop file and save it.

I then save a copy as a jpg file.

I open the jpg file and reduce the size and resolution, then save it (same file name).

Now, every once in a while, the jpg file remains locked by the Windows operating system.

I cannot change the file name, delete or move it.

If I open it, I cannot save it as the same file name.

I can open and save as a new name but I cannot delete the original until I reboot the machine.

The same thing hase occured with the master psd files. There does not seem to be a pattern.

Now I see that Mac users have almost the identical problem, I know it is a Photoshop file management issue.

My guess is that Photoshop tells the operating system that it has the file open but then neglects to tell the operating system to release the file.

Photoshop employees keep trying to blame other systems.

Tell me why:

• This occurs when no other application has accessed the file.

• It only occurs after Photoshop accesses a file.

• It occurs on both Mac and Windows platforms.

• No other application on the PC creates this problem.

Chris Cox

Legend

It is not a Photoshop problem - that is already well established.

Photoshop reports the problem when the OS says the file is busy (being used by another application).

Either your OS is lying, or Photoshop is correct and some other app has the file open.

We've tested Photoshop quite a lot to make sure that it cannot keep files open after reading or saving the files.

And we have never seen a case where Photoshop could keep the files open.

But we have seen thousands of cases where something else on the system kept the files open (including parts of the OS/Finder/Explorer/Spotlight/Coverflow/etc.).

A

Anonymous

Chris,

>> It is not a Photoshop problem - that is already well established.

I had Photoshop 6 on this machine and this problem occurred ONLY after Photoshop accessed or created a file. I have Photoshop 6 on my home PC and the same problem occurs.

After upgrading to Photoshop CS3 at work, I assumed that the problem would be fixed. It was not.

I do not now what is causing the fault. All evidence points to Photoshop.

Again, If this is not a Photoshop generated error, explain why:

• This occurs when no other application has accessed the file.

• It only occurs after Photoshop accesses a file.

• It occurs on both Mac and Windows platforms.

• No other application on the PC creates this problem.

Additionally:

Occurs on two different machines. One with XP Professional, the other XP home. The only common is Photoshop.

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