Hello, Has anyone any experience MS Word error: Can't open the document. If so could you help point me in the right direction? How to repair word? Any help would be appreciated.
In a networked environment, Microsoft Word locks data files on a network preventing them from being edited by more than one person at a time. This prevents users from simultaneously making changes to a file, which can cause confusion and data loss. If a user tries to open a file on a network and the file is locked, Word will display a dialog box informing the user that someone else is using the file. The user can either wait until the current user exits the file, or they can open a copy of the file to make changes on. The user can then save the changes in a different file.
It might help if you were to include the error message when attempting to open the file, and as adoria pointed out, if it was a file on a network share, then you should see a copy of the auto-recover file in Windows Explorer. The file icon will be opaque and normally starts with ~$ (TIP: you'll need Windows Explorer view to display hidden files) If it is a network file, your IT dept should be able to tell you who has the file open. Unless you're a domain admin yourself in which case open computer management, connect to the file server and view open sessions.