Bit of a strange one, but had this problem in more than one office now.
Regularly Excel files stored on a Windows 2003 file server, are not
displaying the Read-Only notification when someone already has the
spreadsheet open. Therefore, when attempting to save it, it then asks to save
a copy or overwrite the changes. A lot of time has been lost with this
already. Has anyone got any suggestions? Many thanks.

Hi,

Set or clear read-only status for a workbook file

Recommend that a file be opened read-only

When you set this option, users get a read-only recommendation when they
open the file. This does not prevent users from opening the file as
read-write so that they can edit and save changes.

1. On the File menu, click Save As.
2. On the Tools menu in the Save As dialog box, click General Options.
3. Select the Read-only recommended check box, and then click OK.
4. Click Save.
5. If prompted, click Yes to replace the existing workbook.

Make a workbook file read-only

1. On the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and
then click Windows Explorer.
2. In the Exploring window, open the drive or folder that contains the file.
3. Click the file name.
4. On the File menu, click Properties.
5. Click the General tab.
6. Select the Read-only check box.

Make a workbook file read-write

1. On the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and
then click Windows Explorer.
2. In the Exploring window, open the drive or folder that contains the file.
3. Click the file name.
4. On the File menu, click Properties.
5. Click the General tab.
6. Clear the Read-only check box.

Challa Prabhu

"Jenny Dibsdale" wrote:

Bit of a strange one, but had this problem in more than one office now.
Regularly Excel files stored on a Windows 2003 file server, are not
displaying the Read-Only notification when someone already has the
spreadsheet open. Therefore, when attempting to save it, it then asks to save
a copy or overwrite the changes. A lot of time has been lost with this
already. Has anyone got any suggestions? Many thanks.