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Whenever you try to modify a file that you have not touched in over two weeks, you’ll receive the following message:

The file [File Name] is locked because you haven’t made any changes to it recently.
Modify or disable Mac OS X Lion’s file locking feature

What causes this issue

This happens because the files which have not been changed for 2 weeks (by default) are automatically locked by OS X Lion. This is to prevent accidental auto-save changes from modifying your files.

How to solve it

To modify or disable file locking feature in Mac OS Lion follow the steps.

Open the System Preferences from the Apple menu on the top left.

Select Time Machine.

Modify or disable Mac OS X Lion’s file locking feature

Click the Options button.

Modify or disable Mac OS X Lion’s file locking feature
  1. To disable file locking feature, uncheck the box next to Lock documents [2 weeks] after last edit.
  2. To change the time interval between file locking, click the drop-down list and choose 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month or 1 year.
Modify or disable Mac OS X Lion’s file locking feature
  1. Click the “Save” button.

Now you wouldn’t get the annoying prompt.

If you are having trouble fixing this problem with the instructions above, but are being able to solve this problem with any another method please describe it in the comment section below. Thanks!

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Thanks for reading!