Windows Server 2003: Properly locks MS Office files, but not Adobe .AI

[brucegarlock]

We have some shares setup on a Windows 2003 R2 server, and the MS Office files people save behave properly: The first person to open the file gets read/write, and the second person to open the file while the first person still has the file open, gets a read-only version.

This is not true for the graphics files, like Adobe Illustrator .AI files, and Photoshop .PSD files. Anyone who goes to open these files has full read/write, even if someone else is already working on the file! This has lead to numerous file corruption issues, as well as other lost work, since it always saves the last changes to the file.

How do we get Windows to properly lock these files so when someone is working on a file, and someone else wants to open one, they get read-only access?

Many thanks,

Bruce

 

[rsacorp]

Okay, have a couple of insights:

* The file lock on Office files is Office-specific. The reason you get that file lock message is that the OS told Office that it is being used by another process. They are pretty common across the office productivity suites.
* Though file locking is universal (and supplanted by offline folders, opportunistic locking, etc.), programs act differently when they encounter a lock. For instance, Quickbooks will flag you when another user opens a file already opened exclusively by another user, but Quicken (dont ask how I know this) will allow "n" users to open the same file, with disastrous results.

You will need to look at how the files are being used - maybe you can change up when files are accessed, and by whom. I would also recommend updating Illustrator to the latest release - I found a few posts online that indicated issues with sharing Illustrator files, but that was CS3 on the Mac.

Hope that helps....

Mike Molenda - TAC Analyst

RSA Corp - Houston, TX
Technical Assistance Center

http://www.rsacorp.com

 

[brucegarlock]

So it sounds like the client application is responsible for the handling of locks? Maybe Adobe wants users to use their Version Cue application, which has a "check-in, check-out" facility.

Thanks for your insight - very helpful.

 

[brucegarlock]

Scratch that! Adobe is deprecating Version Cue, and recommending that customers use a 3rd party DAM system.

For our purposes, a simple lock when an Adobe file is opened would solve a lot of problems.

 

[rsacorp]

You might also want to check into a Subversion system - takes a bit to set up, but it offers the same "check-in, check-out" features, and it's free...

RSA Corp - Houston, TX
Technical Assistance Center

http://www.rsacorp.com

 

[brucegarlock]

I was just thinking about using Subversion for this I already have a Subversion server setup, which is used for some source code management, but it looks like it will handle binary files just as well.

The only thing is the users may have a difficult time with using this, since they are so used to browsing using explorer, and opening files that way.

We need to look at some of the DAM systems out there anyway, since this department is growing, and needs to manage these files better.

Unless there are some good explorer plug-ins (need both Mac and Windows clients) for subversion, then I guess it's worth a look. I use 'Versions' on the Mac for my own source code, but it's a separate app, and not really integrated with the Finder.

Maybe I'll show it to the department director, and see what he thinks..