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Level 1

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File in use by Finder

I recently discovered that overwriting files selected in Finder with the little preview expanded is not possible because finder keeps the file in use. When preview is collapsed the problem does not occur.
This happens i.e. when exporting a pdf in Indesign, check the size of the file and then later re-export the pdf. This is very annoying and I think Finder should not lock the file when showing the file with preview expanded. The file is not really in use by another app.

Apple please fix this small bug but annoying bug.

MacPro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 20, 2011 3:06 AM

22 replies

ublue Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 22, 2011 2:45 AM in response to ublue

!! Found the cause of the problem !!

As Photoshop is experiencing the same problem overwriting files in PDF format, it drove my attention to Quicklook. The preview (or better thumbnail) in Finder is generated by QuickLook, a daemon which handles thumbnails and previews. Some are pre-installed by OS X, as is the PDF handler installed in /System/Library/QuickLook/PDF.qlgenerator
Disabling this plug-in by moving it to another directory eliminates the problem altogether. Downside is that PDFs can no longer be previewed with this system plug-in, or some developer at Apple should review this qlgenerator.

Apr 21, 2011 5:59 AM in response to ublue

I see over at this thread: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2479648

An Adobe employee said:

Adobe has done what we can (and we're still trying to find other ways around it, like trying again after half a second) - but the files are being locked by something OUTSIDE our control.

We've notified Apple about it, and they have made several fixes over the years - but somehow the problem keeps recurring in their software.

No, this does not come up just in Photoshop. It happens in any application that actually checks for errors when saving the file. But there are many applications that don't check for such errors.

Correct, this problem should not exist. But all we can really do is tell the user when it does occur.

Jan 10, 2012 12:41 PM in response to John Allen2

I am glad I found this, because I have been experiencing the same problem.

Jul 20, 2012 2:14 PM in response to Allegra_man

I've been having this problem for a bit and couldn't figure it out, it was driving me a little crazy.

Like has been said, anytime I export a PDF from InDesign that I wanted to copy over a previous PDF, I would get the "file in use" or "you don't have permission" error.

I think I fixed it, try this and see if it helps.

When exporting from InDesign I had the option selected to "View PDF after Exporting"

So when it completed the export, the PDF would auto open in Preview.

Then when I went back to re-export, it seemed that even if I had closed Preview, InDesign or OSX felt like the file was "still in use"

If I turn off that "View PDF after Exporting" option then I seem to be able to save over the original as much as I'd like.

plisvb2

Level 1

2 points

Aug 6, 2012 5:29 AM in response to ublue

Just started having thei issue with InDesign and CS5 after upgrading to Mountain Lion.

Found and app that tells you which program is locking the file in question (http://www.hamsoftengineering.com/products/wkm/wkm.html) and the result is definately the finder, then it shows the process ID, then it says cookied.

Does "cookied" shed any light on this.

Peter

deejson

Level 1

0 points

Feb 14, 2013 3:31 PM in response to plisvb2

Would love to know if a solution has been found to this problem.

Jan 17, 2014 1:57 PM in response to deejson

For some reason Apple won't want to solve this problem. In Mavericks this annoying bug is still there.

File in use by Finder