Background

This article will cover the causes of not being able to open the company file and how to handle the various messages you may receive.

If you are having trouble opening the AccountEdge application (rather than just logging into the file) please see this FAQ for Windows OS or this FAQ for Mac OS.

Unable to open file, file may be locked or in use, or access privileges may be incorrect

There are several possible causes for this error message and depending on the cause - the solution for resolving it will be different.

Someone has logged into the company file as a single user

Have the person logged in as a single user log out and log back in as a multi-user.

Someone Signed On With Same User ID

A User ID can only be used on one computer at a time. If someone signed on with the same User ID that you are trying to use at a different computer it won't let you log in using the same ID. To view instructions on creating a new user click here.

A network interruption (machine going to sleep, AccountEdge crashing, machine crashing, power outage, etc) has left a lock file

If AccountEdge crashes or closes out improperly it can cause an issue with lingering lock files. Lock files are created when you log in to the company file and should be deleted automatically when you quit out of the software. If the software is terminated improperly (ie: it crashes) those lock files won't be cleared and the program will think you are still logged into the file even though you are not.

You can resolve this by one of two ways:

• Have everyone log out of the data file. Open the folder that contains the company file. Delete any .flk files that you find (access####.flk or lock####.flk files).
• Have everyone log out of the data file. Restart the machine that hosts the company file.

You are attempting to open a zipped (compressed) file (ie: an AccountEdge backup file)

Restore the backup file and then open it. Your data file should have an extension of .myo not .zip.

The name of the Macintosh hard disk contains invalid characters

If your hard drive has special characters (#$!) or non-English letters it can be problematic. Rename your hard drive to the standard Macintosh HD.

The folder containing the file has incorrect permissions

If you do not have the appropriate permissions on the AccountEdge file or the folder that the file is in can cause issues.

Note: If you are not comfortable/familiar with changing the permissions on a file or folder please see an I.T. professional. This can be different for different operating systems and is not something that the AccountEdge support staff can assist you with. The pages below do provide reference information for those who would like to handle this themselves:

• This support page has information on setting permissions properly on Windows.
• This support page has information on setting permissions properly on Mac.

Unable to open file; File name is too long

This includes:

• The name of the company file contains more than 32 characters (28 characters plus .myo)
• The name of the folder containing the company file is more than 27 characters long
• The path to your company file location (hard disk name + folder names + company file name) is more than 128 characters

Shorten the length of the file name or the path structure. Try not to bury the file in folders inside of folders. A good test to see if this is the issue is to move the file to the Desktop and attempt to open it from there. If this works you'll want to change the location/name to be shorter than you originally made it.

Company File Opens with Optimization Assistant

Occasionally on the Mac, when users attempt to open a company file by double-clicking on the file, the AccountEdge Optimization Assistant will attempt to open the file, rather than AccountEdge itself. To resolve this, you use Get Info on the company file to set the Open with to indicate AccountEdge instead of the Optimization Assistant:

1. Click once on the company file to highlight it
2. Select Get Info from the File menu at the top of the screen
3. In the Get Info window, if the Open with: information isn't displayed, click the triangle to its left to display it
4. In the drop down menu, select AccountEdge as the program to open the file with

Not an AccountEdge company file

If you get this error message click here to view the FAQ.

Other Issues

Above we've covered the most common problems that users run into when attempting to open the company file. The issues below happen less frequently but are possible.

Too Many Lock Files

If AccountEdge crashes it can cause an issue with lingering lock files. If you have many users it's possible that you could have some users who were unable to login while others were locked out of the file.

If you have too many lock files in a folder it will prevent anyone from logging in. It can also prevent the file from being optimized.

This issue of having too many lock files can present several different error messages:

• No More Than X Data Files in Any Folder May Be Opened at One Time (X could be any number)
• Error -230 5116:0:0 (when attempting to Optimize a company file)
• Max Number of Clients have accessed the file, Any further request would be denied (when attempting to open a company file with AENE)
• DM error -225-5116-0-0 (when attempting to Optimize a company file)
• Unable to open file, file may be locked or in use, or access privileges may be incorrect

You can resolve this by one of two ways:

• Have everyone log out of the data file. Open the folder that contains the company file. Delete any .flk files that you find (access####.flk or lock####.flk files).
• Have everyone log out of the data file. Restart the machine that hosts the company file.

Shortcut or Alias is corrupt

The shortcut or alias being used to open the company file is not correctly referencing the company file. Perhaps the company file was moved, or the remote resource (disk, folder, etc.) is unavailable. Verify the shortcut or alias is correctly referencing the file, and the resource is available.

Can't Find Company File

There is a separate support article that has instructions for if you are having trouble with finding the file. You can find that here.

Browse to File on Windows Server 2016

Some users on Windows Server 2016 are experiencing a bug when using the Browse window in AccountEdge to open their company file. Click here to learn more.