ah. so this is a bit like using a shared spreadsheet. when another user is handling the file. i will look into the process handler link (thanks) and also the flock method - iasaw aliitle bit of this. and i should be able to work it ut from there. obv win32 isn't ideal but if i can get round that then server should be fairly straight forward when i get there. :D

thanks for the info burak ;-'