Can't open same msg file more than once at the same time in Outlook 2010

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MarkB@USLI

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Outlook version
Outlook 2010 32 bit
Email Account
Exchange Server 2010
I'm running Outlook 2010. I copy an email to a network folder and it saves correctly as an .msg file. I can open it fine. Close it. Open it again. This is not the common problem listed about opening the file, then closing, then not being able to open again. I get the below error when I try to open it once, then while it's open try to open it a second time; or if one user has it open, if a second user tries to open it, they get the below error as well:

Cannot open file: ... The file may not exist, you may not have permission to open it, or it may be open in another program. Right-click the folder...

I've tried disabling all of the add-ins (no unusual looking add-ins anyway). I also tried starting Outlook in safe mode. None of that works.
If anyone knows how to get past this error, it would be a great help! This is currently a show-stopper for the project that I'm working on. Thanks.
 
I don't think you can avoid that error - outlook puts a lock on it and another user can't use it until the first is done with it.
 
I was afraid of that.
Do you know of any way to have more than one user look at the email at the same time?
Thanks.
 
No, I don't - well, short of making a copy of the message and opening the copy, which is not practical.
Actually, that is a practical idea. This project is an in-house windows app. If the file is locked by Outlook I could make a copy to a local temp directory and open the copy. Thanks for the idea.
Do happen to know how to check if an .msg file is locked by Outlook? Is there an attribute or property of the file that I can check? Thanks.
 
offhand, no, but maybe in error handling - basically, if error then copy, if you know the code that is generated, you can say if error code #, then copy.
 
I wrote a little method to check if the file is locked by attempting to open the System.IO.FileInfo to a FileStream inside a try..catch that captures an IOException. If it opens, I close the FileStream and return a false. If it catches the IOException, I return a true. Works like a charm. Thanks a bunch for your help, Diane!
 
Thanks for the update, I'm sure it will help others.
 
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