Guess you could add this at the top of that too...

IF USED('Bookings')
USE IN Bookings
EndIF


>There's some ambiguity in his code sample - SELECTed work area not 100% certain, also checking ISEXCLUSIVE() after trying the commands that require it. My code clears up those issues, he should run it in his environment as a test.
>
>Actually, if he can't get exclusive access, USE ... EXCLUSIVE should fail. So something like this might be better:
>

>SET SAFETY OFF
>
>TRY
>  USE Bookings IN 0 EXCLUSIVE
>
>  TRY
>    ZAP IN Bookings
>
>  CATCH
>    =MESSAGEBOX( "Unable to ZAP Bookings table" ) && This should never be reached
>
>  ENDTRY
>
>CATCH
>  =MESSAGEBOX( "Unable to open Bookings table EXCLUSIVEly" )
>
>ENDTRY
>
>SET SAFETY ON
>

>
>Also there are some other conditions that might affect this:
>
>- the table in use in another work area via something like USE Bookings IN 0 AGAIN ALIAS Bookings2
>- the table has been implicitly opened by being used in a FILTERed cursor, or a view
>
>The use of the table to power a grid also raises questions. Does the grid have any events that might fire if its data are changed? What if grid data are changed but not committed?
>
>I guess we should also ask if there's any chance the EXE has a Bookings.DBF included in the EXE (inadvertently or otherwise) :-\
>
>>ZAP is for sure a lot faster - but he's not able to get exclusive use of the table for some reason - so until he gets around that he's kinda stuck.
>>
>>How about:
>>>

>>>SET SAFETY OFF
>>>SET EXCLUSIVE on
>>>
>>>USE bookings IN 0 EXCLUSIVE &&I have tried it with and without the exclusive clause. Makes no difference.
>>>* USE ... IN 0 is good practice but be aware the table may not be opened in the current work area
>>>* unless there is no table open in it already
>>>* In fact, even if the current work area is empty, if there is a lower-numbered one also empty
>>>* it will be used instead
>>>* After a USE .. IN 0 command, either:
>>>* Follow it with SELECT Bookings, or
>>>* Use the IN clauses in commands to make sure you're working with the correct alias (e.g. ZAP IN Bookings below)
>>>
>>>IF ISEXCLUSIVE( "Bookings" )
>>>  ZAP IN Bookings
>>>  * DELETE ALL
>>>  * PACK
>>>
>>>ELSE
>>>  MESSAGEBOX('Not opened exclusively')
>>>
>>>ENDIF
>>>
>>>SET EXCLUSIVE OFF
>>>SET SAFETY ON
>>>

As Help says, "Issuing ZAP is equivalent to issuing DELETE ALL followed by PACK, but ZAP is much faster."
>>>
>>>If the above doesn't help:
>>>
>>>- Is Bookings a table, a cursor, or a view?
>>>- PACK creates temporary files, so you need read/write privileges to your temp files folder ( SYS( 2023 ) ).
>>>- If you're running real-time antivirus scanning, you could try temporarily disabling it, or excluding the folders containing Bookings.* and your temp files
>>>- Where are the Bookings.* files stored? Some low-end NAS boxes don't fully or properly support NetBIOS locking mechanisms so you can get unexpected results with EXCLUSIVE use and other commands that rely on it