File Locking Is Not Supported Cross-Platform

• Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.2 4.3
• Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, version 4.2
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0
• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a
• Microsoft Word for Macintosh, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS

In the applications listed above, if you open a file located on a network server on both a personal computer running Microsoft Windows and a Macintosh computer simultaneously (that is, you open the file on a personal computer and then open the same file on a Macintosh computer), you do not receive a prompt to open the file as read only as in earlier versions of the applications.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because file locking is not supported between cross- platform applications for the versions mentioned above, such as Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for Windows and Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for the Macintosh.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Office for the Macintosh version 4.2.1, Microsoft Word for the Macintosh version 6.0.1, and Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh version 5.0a.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that when the same file is open on a personal computer, and a Macintosh computer, and you save the file on the computer that opened the file last, the file is saved as a temporary file on the network drive where the original file is located. This prevents the data from being overwritten in the original file which is in use by the first computer.