Microsoft Office applications fail to save to a server volume

If more than one user logs in to a Mac OS X Server from different client computers and with the same UID, they will be unable to save server-stored files using a Microsoft Office application after any of the users logs out. When a save is attempted, this alert will appear:

"There has been a network or file permission error. The network connection may be lost."

Workarounds

You can use one of these workarounds:

• Use a shared directory service instead so that every user logs in with their own unique ID.
• Don't share a server user—each client user should have a unique ID.
• Unmount the server volume before logging out of Mac OS X on the client computer.

   

Why does this occur?

Microsoft Office applications use a "safe save" that stores files in the TemporaryItems folder that's on the same volume as the file. With a shared file system, the path is:

/.TemporaryItems/folders. (local UID) /TemporaryItems.

However, when one of the users logs out of the local client, the "/.TemporaryItems/folders. (local UID) /TemporaryItems." directory is deleted, preventing any other currently-logged in users that are using the same UID from saving from Microsoft Office applications.

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