While working with Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel) you may encounter "The file is being used by another application or user" error message. If you see this error message on your computer, you will not be able to save the file in the normal .docx format unless you fix the problem first. Follow these simple solutions to fix the problem on your computer.
Fix-1 Save the file in a different format-
Saving the problem file in a different format may solve the problem.
1. First, open the problem file.
2. Then click on “Fillet“On the menu bar.
3. Next, click on “Save eat“To save the file.
4. Now, in the Save as a window, click on the drop-down menu next to 'Save as type:'.
5. Then, select the file type such as "PDF".
6. Now, click on “Save".
Now wait a bit. Initially, you may see 'The file is being used by another application or user' error message displayed on the screen, but once the save process is complete, the error message will disappear.
Fix-2 Close all Outlook related processes-
The main reason behind this error message can be the use of the same file by different people perspective processes.
1. Right-click on the Windows icon and then click "Task Manager".
The Task Manager window will open.
2. In the Task Manager, look for other MS Office processes except the one you are using (if you are using Word, then check if there are any Socket or MS Outlook processes are running).
3. Right click in the Outlook process and then click "Last task".
By doing this, you kill all the processes associated with Outlook and close the Task Manager window.
Now try saving the file to your computer again. This should fix the problem.
Fix-3 Delete .dotm templates-
Deleting the corrupted .dotm templates from your device may fix this issue.
1. Press Windows key + E to open the File Explorer window.
2. In the File Explorer window, go to this location-
C:Users%UserName%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates
NOTE: -
Username stands for the username of the account you are using on your device.
Example: like "Sambit'is my username, the address will look like this-
C: Users Sambit AppData Roaming Microsoft Templates
3. Now select "Normal"And"Normal Email“.Dotm models.
4. Right-click on the selected models and then click "Delete".
These models will be deleted.
Once done, try to save the file in word format.
Fix-4 Change permissions of Word-
Change word permissions can fix this problem on your computer.
1. You need to press Tasto Windows + S and type "password".
2. Right-click on "password"And then click"Open file location".
3. In the application list, right-click on the "password"And then click"Property".
3. Then, go to the "Safety"Form.
4. Next, click on "Advanced".
5. Then click on “Change permissions".
6. Now, click on “Inserisci".
7. Then click on “Select a principal".
8. Now, click on “Advanced".
9. In the Select User or Group window, you need to click on "Find now".
10. Next, select "Authenticated users"Group.
11. Next, click on "ok".
12. Just click on "ok".
13. In the Word permissions entry window, check the option "Full control".
14. Then click on “ok".
15. Going back to the Advanced Security Settings for Word window, you can see 'Authenticated users'in the Authorization Entries panel.
16. Click on 'To apply"And then on"ok".
17. Back in the Word Properties window, click on “To apply"And then click"ok".
Now, start MS Word on your computer.
Check if it works.
Fix-5 Empty Temp Folder-
Emptying the Temp folder file solved the problem for some users.
1. Press Tasto Windows + R open Running window.
2. To open the temp folder, type this simple command and then press enter.
% Temp%
The Temp folder will open on your computer.
3. In the Temp folder, select all contents and press "Delete“From the keyboard to empty the folder.
Now check if the error is still present or not.
Fix-6 Disable Firewall and try to save the file-
Sometimes the firewalls on your computer can prevent you from saving the Word file on your computer. Disable it and try to save it.
1. Press Tasto Windows + I.
2. In the settings window, click "Update and security".
3. You need to click on "Windows Security".
4. Just click on "Firewall and network protection".
Windows Security window will open.
5. In the Firewall and Network Protection window, click the network type next to which you will notice “(active)"
(This device is connected to a private network. Then "Private network“Is shown as 'active'. )
6. Now scroll down until you see Microsoft Defender Firewall.
7. What you need to do is enable or disable the Microsoft Defender Firewall settings on "off'.
Close window settings.
Now try to save the word file and close MS Word. You will no longer see the error message.
