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File is write protected?

5 REPLIES 5
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Message 1 of 6
loreli1262
2833 Views, 5 Replies

File is write protected?

I am the office staff for a small land surveying company. I have Autocad 2005 LT on my computer which is part of a small network (one server - two workstations. Everything is Windows XP. I know: bad bad bad.)

 

We have two draftsmen who work out of their homes and email me drawings regularly. Each time, I perform the same steps:

 

1: open email in Outlook

2: open attached drawing

3: tweak as needed (correct misspellings, add legal description and/or certifications, etc.)

4: plot drawing

5: save drawing to network server (SAVEAS)

 

Been doing that (more or less) for 10 years now. Smiley Happy

 

When I open the attached drawing, I always get a dialogue that says the file is read-only and I always say OK before going on and doing my thing. Never had a problem.

 

Today, I received a drawing from one of my draftsmen. When I tried to SAVEAS, it says Error Saving/Closing File. I tried to QSAVE. It says Drawing File is Write Protected.

 

  • I downloaded the drawing direct from email to server then opened it. No saving allowed.
  • I downloaded the drawing to my computer then opened it. No saving allowed.
  • I changed the file name and opened it. No saving allowed.
  • I tried to change the name when I did the SAVEAS.
  •  Right clicked on properties -- it is NOT marked Read Only.

  • My draftsman brought the drawing in on a memory stick and put it on the server. I opened it. No saving allowed.
  • I deleted every *.bak, *.tmp, *.dwl, etc. I could find on the server and my computer. Rebooted and tried again. I am not allowed to save that file.
  • Just for funzies, I tried a file he emailed me yesterday. No problem saving it anywhere.
  • I received files from the other drafter today. No problem them anywhere.

My draftsman swears he did nothing different on this file from what he has done with literally hundreds of other files. Says the problem is mine because he can save the file on his computer just fine. Smiley Sad

 

Why does this one single solitary stupeeeed little file keep telling me it is write-protected?

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
pendean
in reply to: loreli1262

Sounds like you just have a glitch on your network, locally, today: when AutoCAD can't read/write/rename/delete at the location of the DWG file (opening from an email dumps it into an off-limits temp folder in Windows), it reports it as write-protected. QSAVE never works.

Nothing changed from your users most likely, they can't control your access on your computer through an attachment.

IMHO the better workflow is to NEVER open an email attacment with AutoCAD: drop the file in a 'receivable' folder, do the thing that you do to them afterwards, and file the email as you've always done.

Contact your IT in the meantime and ask them to help you out with your old method if you wish to continue that way.
Message 3 of 6
loreli1262
in reply to: pendean

Look back at all the things I tried.

 

I dumped to a folder on my computer and opened the file with the same result. Neither Save nor Save As would work.

 

But I went through all the same exact steps with three other files attached to emails and they worked. TODAY.

 

Only THIS FILE is not working.

 

PS. I am the IT in this office. Smiley Happy

Message 4 of 6
pendean
in reply to: loreli1262

I did read it, you only mention copying files to a folder AFTER you're current issue, never before then. My suggestion was to do it ALWAYS all the time from now on, regardless. The word WORKFLOW is meant to be a prompt to change behavior permanently 🙂

Look at the location you are aiming for then if it suddnely all came back today: unless you are tring to write over a DWT file the program (AutoCAD) and the file (DWG in question) have no file locking ability as you've described so far.

As IT you know this, basics 101: if it worked before then it works today, but it did not work yesterday it's hardly the program or the file that's the problem is it. Just saying... .
Message 5 of 6
loreli1262
in reply to: pendean

Before posting, I spent a couple of hours perusing various posts where other folks encountered some form of the problem. So I was simply listing all the separate actions I had already tried to get around the write-protect. Each time I tried something, I went back to the starting point and deleted the previous download with all *.dwl, etc. I was trying to be a scientific as possible. Smiley Happy

 

Bottom line, no matter where the file was opened from: my computer, the server or directly from email: it would not allow me to open & then save that file in any shape form or fashion. Smiley Frustrated

 

The method behind my madness is actually a simplicity thing. Open the file, print it for my boss (who does not use a computer -- ever) and then save it to the server. Downloading to my computer and then moving it to the server are extra & unnecessary steps.

 

Either way, the draftsman brought in two drawings this morning instead of emailing them to me. One 18 x 24 and one 11 x 17. Yesterday's problem child was also an 18 X 24. Guess which one was write-protected today. So I kicked it back to him and told him he needs to find what he changed in his big sheet template in the last couple of days because only those two 18x24 dwgs are causing this issue. Everything else is (still) working just fine.

 

I would still appreciate any further ideas. He's an excellent draftsman but entirely self-taught in AutoCAD and utterly computer illiterate. Not to mention I think he's fried a few too many brain cells. I am not confident that he will find anything.

 

He keeps telling me "but I saved it on the computer at the office. Anything from my computer would be wiped out." Sigh.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Message 6 of 6
pendean
in reply to: loreli1262

LOL, that's funny. I've never heard of the symptom you are reporting, sorry.
Best way to verify if it is the file is to EMAIL to to someone else and ask them to do the same as you are trying to do (but to a different server/drive/location obviously).
Or youo can post this mystery file here if you are allowed to: like you we all have email and all have autocad, we just don't have access to your file's ultimate location.

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