windows XP question about 'my documents'
 

just gone over to Xp.

swapped my files over from one pc to this one, put them in catagories i wanted.. under My documents!!

when i went to open an excel file it came up that the same operation was already active/in use ad taht i should change one of eithers file name!!

when i looked more into it.. it seems what i put in MY DOCUMENTS is also auto copied into my account name DOCUMENTS.. in a lower sub heding.

does that sound correct?

i have two ACCOUNT 'MY Documents'... mine and jo's
ie
phils documents
+
jos documents

(both of these folders come under MY COMPUTER)

as well as the MAIN 'my Documents' of course separate.

it looks to me as what ever i put in the main 'my documents' goes also into PHIL's documents.. in the 'my computer' , as i see that there both the same when i look in windows explorer!


now.. should i not put files directly info the main MY DOCUMENTS as it puts them into the main account (Phils documents) at the same time... hence duplicating those files and then causing it to look like two of the same programmes are open/running if i open something like Excel up?



whats the way round the conflict?

am i doing something wrong?


Phil

Not doing anything wrong Phil, maybe a mis understanding though mate !

The my documents folder you see when logged in as you, is stored in C:\Documents and Settings\Phil\My Documents, this same folder will show as Phil's Documents if you look in my computer, and when you click on My Docs on the desktop ! Jo's my docs will be C:\Documents and Settings\Jo\My Documents, and will show Jo's Documents in my computer or just My Docs if she is logged in to the PC

Hope that makes sense ! lol i have been known to talk complete crap ! :)

Phil, you may find that one is a link (or reference) to the other, so that when you put the file into your personal docs folder, you aren't getting a duplicate in the main my documents folder, just that both are pointing to the same thing. Think of it as how you create shortcuts. It sounds to me that they are both actually pointing to the same location on disk, so there is one copy, with two folders that allow you to view the same file.

Out of interest, do you have separate logons for you and Jo, or are you using just one logon, with you manually setting up two folders for each of your docs?

If you have separate logons for you and Jo, you'll probably find that when Jo logs on, My Documents point's to her personal documents folder as it'll be setup on a per user basis as a shortcut to get into your documents quickly.

Ian, you've lost me!

steve, when i set xp up it asked who will be using the Laptop, ie ACCOUNTS
I'm the main one... PHIL
and i put Jo as the second.
I take it I'm the MAIN account main?

Phils documents + Jos documents folders were automatically put in the MY COMPUTER without me doing it manually!!
Phils documents and Jos document sections also have MY MUSIC and MY VIDEO there too.
the only differeence so far is that Jo's Documents doesn't have what i've put in the MAIN 'my documents'

when the start up page come up... you can then click what account you want to go to.... these then have our own settings.

What I've done is save old files off my old laptop and put them on this new one.. and copied them accross into MY DOCUMENTS.. as i had them there when using 'ME' on the last system.


but it looks like what goes into the MAIN MY DOCUMENTS is also copied into PHILS DOCUMENTS.

is that clearer??

Phil

Try logging on as Jo, and putting some docs into Jo's docs. When you are logged on as her, do you see them in the main my documents folder, but not see the files that you had put into your personal docs folder (which were being duplicated in the my documents under your logon)?

The phils documents and jos documents would have been created when each account was created. What you should find (I think!) is that for each logon, the My Documents changes as it is a short cut to the current user's documents folder, so when you log on, it becomes a shortcut to Phil's Documents, and when Jo logs on, it becomes a shortcut to Jos Documents. At least that's how I think it works. If you find that it is working like that, there's nothing to worry about, nothing is getting duplicated, it's just XP giving you quick access to where your documents are for the currently logged on person.

Give it a go and report back :)

that makes sence, i'll try login ina s jo.
i've looked my my sisters PC and she too has putthings in the MAIN My documents and the same files are also in Cheyl's documents (in MY COMPUTER)


if thats how it works, should i remove anything. as when i go to the MAIn my documents and open a excel file... it gives a warning messgae telling me (in effect) theres another file already open in the same name etc.
should i change/remove any file?

Sorry Phil i think i lost myself ! lol

Basically whoever you are logged in as the My Documents folder on the desktop will redirect to the folder in C:\Documents and Settings\%user%\My Documents

%user%= Phil or Jo in your case

There isnt a main My Documents folder !

i see now, but if u open anything up... ie: a WORD document... whether in Phils Documents.. or the 'main' documents... a box comes up saying that..
the example is.......
C:\..\My Documents\salsafile.doc is being used by Phil|home. do you want to make a copy?

what does the copy mean???? do i need to make i need to make a copy?

Phil, don't worry about the My Documents / Phil's Documents / Jo's Documents. As Ian points out, they are one and the same depending on the user. The My Documents is just a shortcut which is an easy access method to get to the current user's docs.

For your lock / copy problem, try following the advice given in this article : http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/LockedFiles.htm

It looks like, for some reason, that Word thinks the document you are trying to open, is already open. This normally happens if the word temp file doesn't get deleted, and when word checks for it when opening the file, can find an old temp file and think it's currently open. If you can stop it thinking that the doc is already open, you should stop seeing the dialog.

One other thing you can try.....

Select Start->Run
In the command box, type the following line,
winword /regserver
Hit enter. That might sort it.

what will it do?

Gets word to rewrite it's registry entries. If something has become corrupted with Word, it should rectify itself. It should be safe to do. I ran it before writing that to see if it gave any dialogs or anything, which it didn't.

i'll leave it then. tnx.

any file i open like that (word, excel etc) comes up saying its already open/in operation.

just one of those things i think

It's not just one of those things, but if you're happy to live with it, that's up to you :) Do a search on google / google groups for "is being used do you want to make a copy" and you'll see a number of people with the problem and resolutions as mentioned above, and other things to try if you feel up to it.

You can also have "c:\documents and settings\all users" which is a shared My Documents across all users. Failing that, try going back to windows 3.1 :D

I suspect the problem is that you are using XP Home and not pro and are using account swapping rather than logging off, this allows you to have 2 people logged on at the same time. If you open a file as one user and account swap then try and open it as the other user the file will still be locked.