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.

dugfresh36

Participating Frequently

I had this same issue starting with Photoshop version 23. (Currently on v24.6.0, on Windows 10 Pro 64-bit/22H2/19045.2965 running on an i7-10850H@2.70 & 2.71GHz, 64GB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.)

I spent the morning working on 3 different files, saving at regular intervals, and didn't have the error. Started work on a 4th file, and every single time I hit CTRL + S, I got this file saving error. Absolutely NOTHING had changed in my environment between the first group of files and the last. I don't work over the network—all files are created locally, and worked on and saved locally.

After researching this issue for a bit, and going through a multitude of solutions, I've resorted to the solution I tried (and had forgotten about) when I was on my previous computer and version of Photoshop: turn off file saving in the background (see attached screenshot). It slows me down a little in that I have to wait for saving to finish before continuing to work (which is more noticeable on large files), but nowhere near the time lost in saving as a different file name, deleting the original, renaming the new one back to the original filename, and reopening the file... EVERY TIME I WANT TO SAVE.

On what I thought might be a related note, I popped open my Task Manager to see what processes might be holding onto my file (other than Photoshop), but couldn't decide how to find that out among the multitude of running processes. So, out of curiosity, I toggled open the Photoshop process and saw a bunch of Microsoft Edge WebView2 processes inside of it. After the wave of nausea passed and my disgust and bewilderment subsided, I managed to kill all of those processes by right-clicking and choosing 'End task'. Unfortunately, it had no effect on the file saving issue, but just thought I'd add this info for anyone who happened to run across it in their search for a solution to this issue, like I did.

metecarkci

Participant

I'm having the same problem on my Windows computer. I closed all programs. I transferred the files on the hard disk to the computer. I formatted the hard disk. Then I transferred back. I restarted the computer. I reinstalled the programs. The same problem continues.

F

Frank Trnka

Participant

I am new to this issue and for me the cause is somewhere outside PhotoShop CS6, but I don't have the expertise to figure out how to break the link that is causing the "can't save" message. I was working for 3 weeks on a project editing and saving scanned images from my desktop scanner and everything was working fine. Then I started a new project using the Google PhotoScan app on my iPhone, which sends the scanned images to my iCloud storage. I moved the scanned images from the iPhoto library to my desktop for editing and haven't been able to save any changes in PhotoShop since - neither the images from the PhotoScan app nor any of the other images that I've already worked with. I've tried most of the fixes listed in this comment string and they haven't helped. I've also uninstalled and reinstalled PhotoShop, hoping to break the link, but that didn't work either. I'm willing to remove the PhotoScan app from my iPhone, but don't want to do anything to lose the photos in my iCloud iPhoto storage library. What ideas might people have? Thanks. - Frank

D

David Ensign 1

Participant

I had the same problem using Photshop CS6 and saving as a PSD.

I was able to save the file to a thumb drive, then copy it back to my hard drive.

A

Anonymous

Well I tried everything, but when I ejected the external hard disk and most importantly my pendrive, from my PC it works. My pendrive was even showing that it could not be ejected because other program was using it, but I removed it anyway. And after that everything is normal. If you've any other external source of storage attached to your PC, please remove it and see if it helps. This problem was bugging me for two days.

K

kirkr5689

Inspiring

Does somebody know a solution for Windows version of Photoshop?

I am fighting this bug for years regularly. It sometimes gone then be back again.

Can't save a file in Photoshop if the image is in use by 3ds max or open in any other soft in general.

While Affinity Photo is having no problems with that at all. Never. So I guess it's still a Photoshop bug.

ps. Have just checked it again. Can't save an image in Photoshop. Affinity Photo saves over same image file without a problem.

A

Anonymous

It took me an hour, but I fixed it. I tried every solution I could find, but nothing worked. I even uninstalled and reinstalled photoshop and still got the error. Then it dawned on me that since it started happening yesterday, then there must be a conflict with another program. So I looked in my program files and checked by date to see if anything new was installed on my computer. Sure enough, there was an anti virus program called Segurazo that I was not aware of. It must have been attached to something else that I downloaded. Couldn't uninstall from the control panel because it wasn't listed there. Couldn't delete it from program files because it refused to delete even though I changed the administrative settings to "everyone" and made that have full control. So I killed it with IObit Unlocker. I added the program there, then clicked the arrow that said "unlock and delete" because it was already unlocked. Then I used ccleaner and did the registry option to get rid of any stray files. Worked like a charm and the error message is gone. Sooooo, for people who have been having the problem for a long time, you're not going to find the conflict as easily as I did because I only had one day to look through. Go through your program files and check everything over for anything you don't recognize. Getting rid of the conflicting program is the fix for this error message.

K

kims87619903

Participant

I just ran into this problem out of nowhere and was losing my mind trying to solve it until I read this post and realized that I had recently installed both Sophos and Malwarebytes antivirus software onto my Mac (running Mojave). I did a simple uninstall for both at the same time so I'm not sure which one was to blame, but the problem completely vanished. Thank you so much for this suggestion!

A

arulpalaniswamy

Participant

Other applications are reasons for this problem.

We have to uninstall the problematic application(s).

Then Photoshop will work properly.

I met this problem on my laptop.

I uninstalled some other applications.

Thereafter Photoshop worked well.

carldanielsmith

Participant

I had this problem when exporting Artboards, plus a few other errors when trying to save in general. It turns out that where I was saving to was part of the Creative Cloud Files directory. My best guess is that as soon as CC locates a new or modified file, it locks it straightaway so it can sync it, but obviously that meant that Photoshop can no longer write to it.

The workaround for this is to pause syncing of files, and it worked first time.

Perhaps Adobe you should add a delay to files being synced instead of doing it immediately?

W

WhoReallyKnows

Participant

LOL... I love the "It's not PS it is the OS reporting..." BS. It only happens when I open and close PS without touching ANY other app, yet it is not PS... Oh boy.... The opinion of this highly experienced app developer is that is a cop out...

A

andyk91150279

Participant

Like a lot of users... I liked to view my images in COLUMN view in my finder window.

Changed it to LIST view and opened the image.

Made my changes, sized it,... and it closed like it should.

No more problems! Didn't fuss with anything else.

IMac, OSX El Capitan, PhotoshopCS3

PubCD

Participant

@andyk91150279

"Like a lot of users... I liked to view my images in COLUMN view in my finder window.

Changed it to LIST view and opened the image.

Made my changes, sized it,... and it closed like it should.

No more problems! Didn't fuss with anything else."

HOLY COW! I've been living with this problem for several years because I just couldn't figure it out, then I found this thread tonight during yet another session of "let's try to solve this dumb problem via a Google search," and your answer worked 100% for me. I actually made an account just to say THANK YOU!!!!

Show more replies

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded