Unable to delete a MS Word document

[blunomore]

Good people

A short history of the problem:

1. Received a MS Word doc via e-mail. the file extension is .doc, so I presume it is a Word 2003 doc ???? Tried to open it and the error message says that the file is corrupted.

2. E-mail the person to notify them.

3. They changed the format and re-sent.

4. I was then able to open the doc and copied and pasted it in one of my folders.

5. Am now trying to delete this document from my folder and it refuses; the error message reads : "The action can't be completed because the file is open in MS Office Word". This is NOT the case as far as I can see.

Please help - how do I delete this?

 

[|tera|]

Your instance of Word probably didn't close properly, which means Word is still running the background.

I could explain how to end it with Task Manager, but just restart your computer rather and you should be able to delete it.

 

[ld13]

Ctrl Alt Delete - Kill WINWORD
Else get Unlocker 1.9.1

 

[blunomore]

Your instance of Word probably didn't close properly, which means Word is still running the background.

I could explain how to end it with Task Manager, but just restart your computer rather and you should be able to delete it.

Thanks tera.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

Get unlocker and install it. It runs in the background until you try and do something to a locked file. Then it pops up from nowhere to give you options as to what you want to do.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

kick the pc and throw it out of the window

demand a new one



On a serious note, Tera's solution is quick and painless.

 

[ABCpt]

On a serious note, Tera's solution is quick and painless.

Except if you have plenty of windows open that you need all the time, then a reboot is a pain.

 

[Zarathustra]

If you can't or don't want to perform a reboot:

- Open a command prompt ([Start] -> [Run] -> cmd -> press the [Enter] button).
- Type the following:
taskkill /IM winword.exe
- Press the [Enter] button.
- Type the following:
exit
- Press the [Enter] button.
- File deletion should now be possible.

 

[superskully]

Other solution is:.
Open Notepad.
Click Save As, and save as the same file you are trying to delete.
Then delete the notepad file.

 

[SouldaFusion]

If none of the above suggestions worked then get a util called Delete on Boot. Even if you don't use it now it is a very useful tool for other occasions.

 

[medicnick83]

What could happen is; the file is cached in the MSO directory.

Restart the PC, immediately look for that folder and delete all the files in there.

The folder changes in 2003, 2007 etc, so just Google "Office Cache/Temp Folder"