Classic Shell: Forum

I did a search of the forum and did not see this topic. So here's hoping it's just me not doing this right as opposed to a bug.

I installed Class Shell 4.1.0 (and like it) on my Windows 8.1 (with the latest update) machine but notice the following: When I have the file explorer window open (classic explorer) to a directory of files I am trying to clean up and I am using details view with the preview pane, if I click on a file to see the preview and then right-click and select "delete", I get the error box "The action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program".

If I do not have the preview pane active, the file goes to the recycle bin, as expected when I right-click and select delete.

I am posting this here because I am wondering if this is a bug?

I like to be able to double-check what I am doing when I am organizing files by using the preview pane.

Thanks for reading.

This sounds like the preview handler for that file type is keeping an open handle to the file. Most like it is a bug in the particular shell extension. What kind of file is it? I tried with a simple text file and there was no problem deleting it while being previewed.

Thanks for the observations. It appears to just be a problem with Adobe PDF files on my machine. Adobe Reader XI is my default PDF preview handler. It doesn't appear to want to let go of the file if I have a preview in the preview pane and try to delete it. I've tried this with files of other formats and do not have this problem.

UPDATE:

I uninstalled and reinstalled Adobe Reader XI and got the same behavior. Then I tried the Lenovo Reader software that came with the machine, same behavior. Then, on a Microsoft Community thread, I read a discussion on a similar issue and someone recommended trying the free version of the PDF-Xchange Viewer software. I installed that and made it my default PDF viewer, so it took over the role as the PDF preview handler. Now I can see previews of the files and then delete the ones that I do not want without any issues.

Not really an ideal solution, but one that works for my problem. Is it a Classic Shell issue? I don't have a comment on that as I do not have another Windows 8 machine in the house to use for alternate installation tests. I will leave this thread up though in case someone else runs into this problem and it can be better pinpointed if it is related to Class Shell or is more generic.

No, this is not a Classic Shell issue. It doesn't do anything to affect the preview pane.