WD97: Error Message: "Word Cannot Give a Document the Same Name" (173683)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word 97, you may receive the following error message:

Word cannot give a document the same name as an open document.

Type a different name for the document you want to save.
(<path>\filename)

When you click OK, Word displays the Save As dialog box, prompting you to save the document.

This error may occur with large documents if you select the following options on the Save tab (click Options on the Tools menu):

Allow Fast Saves

-and-
Allow Background Saves

-and-
Save AutoRecover info every <n> minutes

CAUSE

This error may occur when you attempt to save a document, while Word is performing an automatic background save. Both save processes are trying to save information to the same file name.

WORKAROUND

To prevent this error message from occurring, allow the automatic background save to complete before you save your document.

NOTE: When Word saves a document in the background, a pulsing disk icon appears on the status bar.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word 2000.

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

89247 WD97: How Word for Windows Uses Temporary Files

71999 WD97: How to Disable the Fast Saves Option

107686 WD: How Word Creates and Recovers AutoRecover Files