When using Cryptomator with OneDrive, Windows 10, and Office 2016 I would quite often get a file locked dialogue that would say the file is only read only when trying to open a word or excel document even though I had closed it previously. Is anybody else see this issue? Is there a work around?
I did some testing and could not duplicate when just working with a simple txt document with wordpad.
Is it possible that you had this dialog during installation of Cryptomator?
The reason why we introduced this is because Office 2016 behaves strangely without the hosts file modification.
I didn’t get that screen when I installed on either of the two computers I installed 1.3.1 on. I’ll give that a try.
After looking at the hosts file, it looks like that line in your screenshot is already there.
Then I don’t recognize the issue you’re experiencing.
It’s also quite possible that it’s just how Office behaves inside WebDAV drives. Maybe the only solution is that we provide the virtual drive via another technology: https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/issues/207
Does it also happen with vaults that are located outside of OneDrive?
I’m not sure. I don’t have any outside of OneDrive.
Does it happen with all Office files? You mentioned that it’s “quite often” or is it “always”?
It happened with both .xlsx and .docx files. I haven’t tested more but I would guess it would happen with .ppt/x files as well. Always wouldn’t be quite accurate. See more details below.
Do you have a reproducable example? If yes, could give a step-by-step instruction?
Open OneDrive .xlsx file on computer A with office 2016. Edit/update file and save and close on computer A. Open the same file on computer B with Office 2016.
I had the same issue with both office 2016 and their respective windows 10 mobile apps (Excel Mobile/Word Mobile etc.)
I found rebooting computer B would fix the issue and allow me to open the file in non-read only as well as un-mounting and remounting the drive would also fix.
Ah, from your observations I assume that it has to do something with simultaneously opening the same file from different sources. Is the message you’re getting something like “The document is locked for editing by another user”? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/313472/-the-document-is-locked-for-editing-by-another-user-error-message-when
This is Microsoft’s method of file locking for Office applications to prevent two users from altering a document at the same time. If I’m not mistaken, Office creates a (probably hidden) file that begins with ~ indicating that the file is currently locked. If you close the document, that file should be deleted.
Did you wait “long enough” for OneDrive to synchronize the deletion of the lock file? If yes, maybe the workaround is to press F5 inside the virtual drive (in Windows File Explorer) to refresh the directory listing (after synchronization). That should be sufficient and quicker than unmounting/mounting the vault drive. Maybe the issue is that Office thinks that the lock file still exists even though it has already been deleted.
The problem you describe is exactly what is happening except for the file is not opened simultaneously. It was previously closed on the first computer and I waited a good 5 min or so and couldn’t get it to unlock. I did try to refresh as you suggested and that didn’t fix the issue.
I’m not sure if I waited longer it would fix itself, but bottom line is it was plenty of time for OneDrive to sync and update the status of the file. This doesn’t happen with the same open close timeline EVER if not using Cryptomator with office. I’ve currently use Boxcryptor and don’t have this issue. It mounts as a fixed drive vice a network drive. Not sure if that’s the difference with office?
I also notice that if I have the network drive open in explorer, it doesn’t seem to update (file name or file save times etc.) unless I refresh. Not sure if that’s cosmetic or actual the files aren’t updating.
Just received an email by a user who reported that disabling the file locking feature via registry works. However he was not talking about Office itself but rather some other application using Sharepoint APIs.
I.e. if we find some setting in the registry or elsewhere that allows to disable file locking for Office, it might be worth a shot.