Rights to open a file?

[Rob Davis]

I am getting a message that I may not have enough rights to open a file. What does that mean? (and how can I fix it quickly!)
Thanks
Rob

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

This message normally means that your project file is damaged or corrupted. This is quite rare, and when it does happen it is usually the result of network errors while saving on a network drive or a drive error when saving on an unreliable drive, for example a USB thumb drive. Unfortunately, this can happen to any file on Windows if you experience a Windows problem or network error (on a network drive) while the save process is actually in progress.

If it is a single-file project (.hmxz) You can check to see if there is anything inside the damaged file that you can save by changing its extension from .hmxz to .zip (it is actually a normal zip archive). You can then try to unpack it with a normal zip program or a zip repair tool. Frequently, however, anything more than minimal damage to a compressed archive will make the entire contents unreadable.

If it is an uncompressed project (.hmxp) you are much better off: Then the damage will usually be restricted to just the project file itself. You can solve this by creating another empty .hmxp project somewhere else and copying the .hmxp file from there to your damaged project. That will allow you to open the project. If the TOC files in the \Maps folder of the project are still intact you will then even have your TOC. You will only be missing your project settings, which will need to be re-entered:

• Your settings in the Configuration section in the Project Explorer, including the Project Search Path settings with the locations of your graphics files and snippets.
• Any help context ID numbers for your topics, which are stored centrally in the project file.

If you can't access the contents in this way you will have to return to your most recent backup. With the current version of Help+Manual you should get a warning to recover from the background backup if there was an error saving.

[Rob Davis]

HI
Thanks for the response.
I tried following your suggestions, but I get the same message. Any idea why? I had renamed the name and extension of the old file but it is still in the folder.
Anything else to try?
Thanks
Rob.

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

What kind of project is it, HMXP or HMXZ? In both cases, are you able to look inside the file? You can read an HMXP file with a regular editor like Notepad or Sublime Text or Notepad++. To check a HMXZ you need to change its extension to .zip and open it with a zip tool.

[Rob Davis]

HI
It's an hmxp. And it is stored on a network drive because several TWs access it from time to time, and we occasionally even had more than one of us working simultaneously on separate Topics (not the case here.)
I opened it with Notepad - not that I understand what I am looking at, and it LOOKS similar to the .hmxp from other projects.
I have several very close variations of the file (because I did a number of experiments trying different ways of implementing some branding ideas, etc.) These files are in different folder structures isolated from the regular production file. They open successfully (but they are not up to date with the last 6 months or so of changes.
I experimented with some of those files, copying them into the place of the damaged file. They all give the same error. Does this point to the problem possibly being in one of the other folders in the .hxmp structure?
I am still waiting for our IT department to tell me when the latest backup of the network drive was done, so I am continuing to look for alternatives in case the backup is too old.
I am pretty keen on finding a solution that does not involve reconstructing the updates from a six-month-old previous file - so any suggestions will be welcome!
Several people have asked the obvious question - "Don't you have daily backup?" - but a) they think of the Help system as a single file, and do not understand the file structure of a 200+ topic file with 1000+graphics etc - and b) anyway, I still had faith in the IT department doing a shared-file-backup - we'll see!
Rob

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

If you mail me the .hmxp file at support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) we can check it for you. However, my guess is that it is a permissions problem in this case. Before doing anything else, restart Windows. Then if the problem persists check the file's security settings to whether it has become protected in any way and also make sure that your Windows account has full read/write permissions for both the folder containing the project and the individual files.