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

[Shlomit Heymann]

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

[Ftrnka]

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

[metecarkci]

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.

 

[dugfresh36]

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.