It’s been documented that Adobe products have an issue with the Finder preview column that can cause files to appear open when in fact they are not.
What’s the Finder preview column? Most people view files by icon or list. But the Finder also has a column view that shows the file path – click the View menu and As Columns. In the example above, you see a folder called In Progress on the desktop. Inside is a Mazda folder and a series of images. You can even view a preview of the selected file.
It’s this preview function that can cause problems for Adobe under certain conditions. If you’re accessing a shared server drive and select an Adobe document, it’s considered “open” and other users who attempt to work in the file cannot save changes. This is true even if you’ve only selected the file and haven’t really opened it in the Adobe app. And if you’ve been working in the file and close it, it’s still considered open if you left the Finder window open and the preview showing. This bug affects only Adobe apps – not Apple or Microsoft Office docs. And it’s been documented as far back as 2007, with no solution in sight. But we can work around the problem by hiding the preview column.
Changing Finder view options
- Open a Finder window.
- Click the View menu and choose As Columns.
- Click the View menu and Show View Options.
- Uncheck the boxes Show Icon Preview and Show Preview Column.
- Close the view options window.
Notice the preview column is no longer showing.This should reduce the chance of a file that’s busy, in-use or read-only.
If you still need to preview a file before opening, select it and press the spacebar. The preview opens in its own large window. That function is called Quick Look, and it’s always available in the Finder, Mail, Messages and most other Apple apps. Be sure to close the preview window when you’re finished.
Obviously, it works best when everyone in your team makes disables the preview column. Let us know if you need help making this consistent.
Remember, this issue only poses a problem under the following conditions: you’re using the column view on a shared volume, with the preview column and an Adobe doc selected. If any of those factors isn’t part of the equation, you’ll never fall victim to this bug.
Learn more about security & troubleshooting.
