Single-user file locking

Working with Your Company File on a Network Overview > Sharing a company file with other users > Protecting your accounting data using file locking > Single-user file locking

A few important MYOB Accounting Plus tasks require that only one user is using the company file. Many of these tasks are file-maintenance procedures, such as backing up and checking your company file for errors, and require the "full attention" of the company file while they're being performed. Single-user file locking ensures that only one user is using a company file when these tasks are occurring.

When you begin to perform a task that requires a single-user file lock, no other users can have the company file open. If you attempt to begin one of these tasks when the file is open on another user's workstation, Accounting Plus will prevent you from starting the task. Similarly, if a single-user file lock is in effect on a company file, no other users will be able to open the file.

When you open a company file, you can specify that you wish to activate single-user file locking. In the Sign-On window that appears when you start Accounting Plus, choose the Single-user Access option.

Note: Having problems with single-user access?

If you're the only user of a particular company file but Accounting Plus still won't allow you to begin a task that requires single-user access, some problem may have occurred when one of your coworkers last closed the company file. (For example, it's possible that someone didn't exit Accounting Plus properly when the company file was open, or a power interruption caused a workstation to shut down unexpectedly.)

To fix this problem, exit Accounting Plus, then start Accounting Plus again and open the company file. (When you use the Sign-on window to open the company file, you might want to consider choosing the Single-user Access option to ensure nobody else will open the company file.) You should now be able to perform the task.

The tasks in which single-user company file locking occur include:

In addition, the following elements cannot be created, changed or removed when more than one person is using the company file.

If you wish to perform a task that requires single-user file locking but other users currently have the company file open, you can quickly determine who is using the company file by displaying the Active Workstations window. To do this, choose Active Workstations from the File menu.