Failed to Merge ... because it is being used by another process

Problem 

Failed to merge document of type <Name of the document template>

Failed to merge

The process cannot access the file C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\LawMaster\PracticeManagement\<Production Database Folder>\<LawMaster Username>\temp\<Name of Template>.dat because it is being used by another process.

Where:

1. <Windows Username> is the Windows Username of the person logged into the machine in question running LawMaster 
2. <Production Database> is the name of your Production database
3. <LawMaster Username> is the LawMaster username that was used to login to LawMaster

Solution

There is no setting in LawMaster that governs this behaviour as the issue is occurring in Word and Windows.

The error message that LawMaster is displaying is being returned by Windows to LawMaster because the file that LawMaster needs to use is currently in use by another program/process 

• Your Antivirus is locking up the file.
  • Setting LawMaster and/or that location mentioned in the error as an exception in your Antivirus might resolve the issue.
    (Turning off your anti-virus in the first instance should help identify whether this is the cause)
    Your IT people should be able to help you with this.

• There are multiple instances of Word open
  • Rebooting the machine in question; or
  • Open task manager on the PC in question and stop any errant instances of Word
  • Then clear the LawMaster temporary files on the machine in question by opening LawMaster on that machine after the reboot and going to File > Clear Temporary Files

• There is another Word issue occurring to do with security:
  • Go to your Windows taskbar,
  • Right click, and
  • Select ‘show windows side by side’.

• At this time, you may notice a warning window like this:
  • Microsoft Word Security Notice - Microsoft Office has identified a potential Security Concern

• If there is no message can you:
  • Send through the logs. To do this:
    • Go to C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\LawMaster\PracticeManagement\Logs
    • Where %username% is the Windows username of the person logged in using LawMaster
    • Copy all the files in the folder and send them back to me

• You are using the Save as menu in Word after opening the folio in LawMaster. For Example: The order in which you might be creating the PDF if using Save As from Word.
  • You right click on a Word folio in LawMaster and select Edit Attachment
  • This downloads the Word document from your LawMaster DMS to your local machine and opens the document in Word
  • When in Word you go to "Save as PDF" that Word document, Word then runs a process to convert the Word document into a PDF
    and via Windows locks the local file.
  • In certain circumstances this can also change the location of the Word document on your local machine meaning you are no longer
    working on the document that has been checked out by LawMaster but rather another copy of the Word document.
  • Therefore when you then save the document and close it and LawMaster tries to upload the files back into LawMaster's DMS
    several things can happen:
    • Windows hasn't released the Word document after turning it into a PDF and so you get the error mentioned; and/or
      • The Word document uploaded back to LawMaster is not the one original copy you checked out and hence the changes
        you made are not there.

1. Right click on a Word folio in LawMaster and select Edit Attachment
2. Make the changes to the Word document as need but do not use the Save As option at any point
3. Save and Close the Word document so it get's checked back in to LawMaster.
4. When you then want to make a PDF of the document right click on a Word folio in LawMaster and select Open Attachment (Read Only)
   1. NOTE: Make sure the document has fully checked back in before doing this step.
5. Now choose the Save as PDF option in Word to create your PDF