get rid of locked Word file on Mac
There is a file on my desktop called "~$file.docx" and I can't get rid of it.
I understand (at a very low level) it is a lock file for Word, and these files have certain properties. But I just want to delete it. I deleted "file.docx" but the damn lock file remains.
I can't open it in Word. I can't do anything with in terminal (e.g. rm
). But if I ls -als
in my Desktop it tells me I have full permissions:
-rw-r--r--@
How do I delete this file?
Update The output of ls -@e
is the same as the simple ls
. I just see "~$file.docx". If I try to remove it I get an error: No such file or directory
.
Update Here is the output to the other ls
call:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 UserName staff hidden 162 Jul 31 2018 ~file.docx
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
com.apple.lastuseddate#PS 16
com.apple.quarantine 29
Solution 1:
In Terminal, if the actual filename is ~$file.docx
then use, rm '~$file.docx'
, or whatever the actual file name is. If it's ~file.docx
, use: rm '~$file.docx'
The above rm
commands assume you are in the directory containing the target file, otherwise use its fully qualified pathname.
As the file is hidden
, you can use either chflags nohidden '<file name>'
or SetFile -a v '<file name>'
, where '<file name>'
is the actual name or fully qualified pathname of the target file, to first unhide the file in Terminal and then in Finder right-click and select: Move to Trash