Being unable to modify a Bid or project can be caused by several factors. Below are the most common reasons for being unable to modify a Bid or project.

Another User is Already Editing Bid

Only one user can edit a Bid at any given time. The second person opening a Bid/Project is in Read-Only mode.

If you are not sharing a database and you receive a warning that the bid is locked by another user, that means when you closed the bid or program, the bid lock wasn't removed correctly. Run a Compact/Repair on your database - this should clear any invalid bid locks (see Related Articles for details).

Job Statuses set to Lock Bids

When a Job Status set to "Locked" is assigned to a project, the becomes project Read Only, restricting the ability to make any changes. To check if the Job Status is locked, perform the following steps:

Open the Cover Sheet of any Bid

Click the Lookup button next to Job Status or select Master > Job Statuses from the menu system

In the Job Statuses window, if there is a check mark in the Lock Bid column that Job Status is locked, making any Bid set to that Job Status Read Only.

Interactive Bids

Both applications must be running and authorized to make changes in interactive Bids. If you are trying to create a Bid in On-Screen Takeoff and receive an error, see Related articles for troubleshooting.

Incorrect Access Level Rights

Your database administrator may have changed or implemented Estimator Access Levels, see the Product User Guide for information on Setting Estimator Access Levels (Security). Contact your On-Screen Takeoff or Quick Bid database administrator if you need different access rights.

Licensed

If your program is not authorized, you will be in "Read Only" mode when you open a Bid.

When accessing Interactive Bids, both programs must be authorized.

For help with authorizing your software, see related articles for help with licensing.

Database Issues

If a Bid was working correctly recently and suddenly becomes read only, a couple of things may have happened:

• Another user may have locked the database (they opened the database and still have it open)
• A network user may have disconnected from the database incorrectly (unplugged their network connection or crashed their PC)
• Network/Corporate software may have been updated and/or changed that is restricting access to the database and or privileges to modify/access databases
• The database may have a invalid entry in one of the tables

To resolve these issues, try these steps:

• Run a Compact/Repair on the database using the application - see the Related article for instructions on how to perform this maintenance
• Open the database in Microsoft Access and perform a Compact and Repair using that application. See the Help system in Access for assistance - this should be performed by your IT Department or System Administrator only
• Create a new database and copy the job(s) into the new database, see Related articles for more information
• Contact your IT department if you cannot perform any of these steps - verify that no changes have been made to network access rights and user privileges