the file is locked for exclusive use - SharePoint error while editing office document

It seems a long time we haven’t talk about any integration problems and respective troubleshooting associated with it.

Today’s issue is based on the same! One of my users submitted a ticket by mentioning she is facing some problems in editing the word document. Probing further I came to know this problem is restricted to only one document and same problem is happening for me also if try to edit the same. You must be curious that which issue I am talking about and what should be the exact error message. Here we go-

I can check out and check it in but if someone else try to check it out it is not possible.

The file “filename” is locked for exclusive use by “account-name”

Let me tell you something, the file is not under the check-out status, it’s not currently open also but still its saying “locked”

This issue might be happened due to following reasons-

The Microsoft Office products cashes while you were working on that particular document

PC crashes while the document is open

Loss of network connection (network issue) while document is open

Troubleshooting:-

1.   Office repair but didn’t resulted any success in my case but you can try

2.   Check the SharePoint draft location where generally SharePoint check out happens

3.   User permissions testing to check the results

4.   URL character limitation

5.   Illegal filename limitation

Resolution:-

https://spunlockfiles.codeplex.com/

1.   How to use this tool, its relatively easy!

2.   Down the wsp to your desktop

3.   Upload it to the site collection solution gallery

4.   Activate the solution from solution gallery

5.   Activate the solution at the site collection level

6.   Add the webpart named as “spfileunlock” to any page and you are done!

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues. Thank you.

Change site logo in SharePoint 2013

Today i would like to share a simple and easy topic as it’s a good idea to choose a title that describes your team or project.

1.   Open your SharePoint site

2.   Settings

3.   Site settings

4.   Under the look and feel

5.   Click title, description and logo

6.   To upload your logo from your computer

7.   Click From Computer

8.   Click Browse

9.   Locate the image and click Open

Additional option- You can also upload the image in your SharePoint document library and select it from there as- browse to the library where the image is stored, select the image and click Insert.

Click OK and that’s it.

Image will be successfully uploaded and site logo can be change without any problems.

Note: If you don’t see Title, description, and logo, you probably don’t have permission to manage that option. You need to have at least permissions equivalent to being in the Owners group on your site.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, Thank you.

Quick Fixes 1 :Avoiding the Default Custom Error Page in Sharepoint 2010

Hi Guys,

This is my first post on Amol's SharePoint Knowledge Base Blog . I will be starting my posts off with a Quick Fixes Series . The purpose of this series will be to provide immediate solutions to several niggles and quirks in SharePoint that we face on an everyday basis . I will not be diving in depth into the mechanics . Its intended to be a quick solution to your issues.

Lets get started !!

We all of us in development have faced the nagging issue at some point in time of the Default Custom Error Page, this occurs when we have deployed some new code related to web parts or event receivers , or in general for several issues , including deletion of content types etc. 

Before we run into the SharePoint ULS Logs or the event viewer or worse yet start debugging the code let's take a moment and let SharePoint show us the actual error.

Step 1:

The first step we need to take is to the change the web.config in the virtual directory of the web application which should ideally be present under a path similar to this : inetpub\wwwroot\wss\Virtual directories folder\[Central Admin PortNo]\web.config

Inside this web.config we should the following entry <customErrors> mode . This attribute will be having a value "On" . We need to change it to "Off" . Make sure you type it in the same way , the words are case-sensitive.

Step 2:

Next we need to find an attribute  <SafeMode> CallStack in the same web.config as above . This will be having a value of "false". We need to go ahead and change it to "true".

Step 3(Optional) :

Next we need to find an attribute Debug . It should be having the value "false" by default . Go ahead and change this to "true".

So the 3 changes are :

1. CustomErrors=”Off” instead of the default CustomErrors=”On” 
2. CallStack=”true” instead of the default CallStack=”false”
3. Debug=”true” instead of the default Debug=”false”

Once these 3 steps are done we should ideally see a more usable page such as the one shown below :

As you can see this is a much better page . We can go ahead and google the error from here and try and find a relevant fix.

Note: 

It is very possible that even after above 3 steps we are still not able to see the error details .

In this case below are a few more troubleshooting steps that you can use to trace or view the error.

Additional Step 1:

There is another web.config present in the SharePoint hive under the _layouts folder . The layouts folder can be found under the path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14

Modify this web.config similar to Step 1 to have the customErrors attribute set as "Off"

Additional Step 2:

If the above does not work then we have another web.config present at the path : C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\ADMIN\

Go ahead and change the customErrors attribute to "Off" in this one as well. 

These 2 steps should definitely show you the detailed error page in your application if the first 3 haven't already worked.

In addition you can try and enable the default ASP.NET trace to view the errors as well.

This is done by going to web.config again in the virtual directory of your web application i.e the one at :inetpub\wwwroot\wss\Virtual directories folder\[Central Admin PortNo]\web.config

Here find the <system.web> element of the web.config file .

Under this element add the following line : <trace enabled=”true” pageOutput=”true”/>

This will give you some errors traced by ASP.NET trace as well . However this will be useful only when combined with all the above steps.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Please do not forget to perform an IISRESET after all the changes as sometimes the changes in web.config do not reflect by themselves.

Perform an IISRESET and refresh your error page and i sincerely hope you can view a more explicable page than the one you started with . 

Good Luck and watch out for more Quick Fixes from my end. 

Don't forget to comment and ask your queries in the comment section . I'll get back with my comments ASAP.

Incoming email settings SharePoint not working

Recently I have started working in configuring SharePoint incoming email settings and completed the functionality on positive note :)

Why I am writing this article? – While working on this functionality I faced so many challenges and numerous error messages, & I would like to share those experiences and resolutions so that it would be useful for all the SharePoint communities.

I worked on two different environments and every environment has different challenges:

§  DEV environment

§  UAT environment

Development environment-

This is standalone environment i.e. configured as App plus WFE. It’s very easy to configure incoming email settings on standalone machine.

What are the pre-requisites required for incoming email settings?

1.   SMTP configuration

2.   Starting of SMTP service

3.   Setup send connector from exchange side

4.   Configure incoming email settings in SharePoint central administration ->system settings->Incoming email settings

5.   Configure incoming settings at the document library level.

Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287879%28v=office.14%29.aspx

Please use the above article for the detail information as it’s quite amazing.

I will not discuss here how to setup the incoming email as the above article will help you to get that information but in case of any queries/questions then please feel free to get back to me.

Notes-

1.   By means of send connector, you can set the routing for your server FQDN or hostname as per your requirements.

2.   Whatever the hostname you will set, you need to make that entry in SMTP also

3.   Last but important point, mail host – this will hold the mail address of your exchange server.

UAT environment- This environment hold one application server and one web front end. Tricky one! It’s always a challenge to configure the incoming email settings in multiple server environments.

Guidelines-

1.   Make sure you configure the SMTP on the front end servers

2.   Ensure you setup the proper path of drop folder across all front ends.

3.   It’s not recommended but sharing my experience as while configuring the SMTP, makes sure you use IP address in relay and connections tab.

4.   If you are using a hostname then ensure that you do make the entry of the same in SMTP under “outgoing email” tab.

5.   Do make the same hostname entry at the document library level.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Product applies to-

1.   SharePoint server 2010

2.   SharePoint Foundation 2010

3.   SharePoint server 2013

4.   SharePoint Foundation 2013

5.   Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

References:-

Configure incoming email for a SharePoint 2013 farm

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262947.aspx

Configure incoming e-mail (SharePoint Foundation 2010)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287879%28v=office.14%29.aspx

How to configure Incoming and Outgoing emails in SharePoint Server 2010

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/pareshg/archive/2010/04/23/how-to-configure-incoming-and-outgoing-emails-in-sharepoint-server-2010.aspx

Configure incoming e-mail (Office SharePoint Server Central Administration Help)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262775%28v=office.12%29.aspx

Precautions while installing sharepoint language packs?

Language packs enable you to create site collections and sites in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of SharePoint in each language.

SharePoint language pack is one of the vital functionality from ends user perspectives. This is just like another SP functionality that needs to be use on daily basis but yes its one time activity!

Hello All,

By means of this article, I would to consolidate audience’s views / comments so that it will be useful for all the SharePoint communities.

Thank you.