Agnes,
I am not sure, but perhaps it would help is you:
SET EXCLUSIVE OFF
before opening anything - table or database.
HTH, Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)