WinWord Error Message: "Word Cannot Save or Create File"

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SUMMARY

If you do not have READ, WRITE, CREATE, MODIFY, and DELETE or ERASE rights in the network directory where you are trying to save a file, Microsoft Word for Windows returns the following error message on a Novell network:

   Word Cannot Save or Create File

MORE INFORMATION

READ, WRITE, CREATE, and DELETE (or ERASE, for earlier versions of Novell) are the minimum rights required for saving a file the first time. READ, WRITE, CREATE, MODIFY, and DELETE are necessary for saving over a file previously saved to the network drive. You must have MODIFY rights if you are trying to save over a previously saved file.

You can check your rights by going to MS-DOS Shell and typing RIGHTS at the prompt. If you have the above rights, the response should include the following:

   [R WDM C]

1. You do not have rights on the current directory (that is, the directory Word displays above the Directories box in the File Open dialog box). This error occurs when you open or save a file. You must change the current directory in the File Open or File Save As dialog box to a directory in which you have rights.

2. The directory is Search Mapped (for example X:\USERS\USER1).

3. You have gone to Shell and moved to the root of X: (for example, by typing "CD\").

4. You do not have READ, WRITE, and CREATE rights at X:\.

5. You try to save a file to X:TEST.DOC.

In the above example, if you usually type "X:\TEST.DOC" in the File Name box when you save the file, you now receive the "Cannot Open Cannot Create File" error message because Novell is mapping X: to X:\ (where you do not have rights) instead of to X:\USERS\USER1.

Workaround

Create a Map Root to the directory in which you usually store files. This prevents Word from changing the current directory to a directory where you do not have rights.

Note: In this case, Novell is behaving similar to MS-DOS. For example, if you move from D:\WINDOWS to the C drive, you can copy a file with the command COPY TEST.DOC D: and it is copied to the D:\WINDOWS directory.