Expert: Amy - 1/3/2009

Question
I try to delete an Illustrator file and I receive an error message stating something like "cannot delete. file is being used by another person". It's not being used by someone else because I'm the only one. I've shut down Illustrator several times. Restarted my computer. Any idea why I cannot delete the file?

Answer
Hi Kelby,

When I encounter this problem, I don't waste time trying to figure out what's causing it - I just want to delete the file. Sometimes it is caused by Acrobat running in the background or sometimes a problem with Windows apps not releasing handles.

I use a program for PCs called Move on Boot, found here:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/moveonboot.html
It works like a charm.

For Mac, hold down option and drag item to the trash. Or use First Aid or Disk First Aid to examine and possibly repair the file, then throw it away.

I hope this helps!

-Amy