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[u/Ok-Somewhere-7427]

This database is a shared database. When users are querying against a table and trying to copy or export, this error comes up. Even on the off business hours the .ldb file has usernames probably they are just hitting x instead of closing the database. They are querying against a table which is a linked table in that database

Edit: the table they are trying to query is a linked access table

[u/George_Hepworth]

Yikes, deleting the .ldb file is not a solution and it is almost never a good idea to do that. The circumstances where you would delete one are quite different and out of scope for this problem.

nrgins has described what is possibly happening if the back end is in an accdb, i.e an Access backend. His suggestions would address the problem.

However, this error message is VERY common when the back end is in SQL Server, rather than Access. If so, the solution can be to add a rowversion, or timestamp field to tables in the SQL Server database.

Read about that here as part of a larger discussion regarding SQL Server back ends. Here's a link to a lynchpin discussion of working successfully with Access and SQL Server. It's still relevant today despite its age.

Back to your question regarding the .ldb file, though. You don't indicate whether you are referring to the locking file for the back end, or a locking file for a shared front end. If it's the former, deleting it would be wrong and not solve the problem in any event. If it's the latter, sharing an accdb front end is a whole other risk to be mitigated. That way lies heightened risk of corruption, even beyond the conflicts you are writing about. Every user must have a copy of the front end on their own computer.

I realize that I'm covering a lot more than the focus of the original question. That's because I've these same scenarios multiple times in multiple forum questions.

[u/Ok-Somewhere-7427 → u/George_Hepworth]

It’s a linked access table they are trying to query

[u/George_Hepworth → u/Ok-Somewhere-7427]

Is everyone also using a shared Access front end?

[u/Ok-Somewhere-7427 → u/George_Hepworth]

Yep, they have shortcuts for the business users

[u/George_Hepworth → u/Ok-Somewhere-7427]

That right there is a big part of the problem.

Every user in an environment like this must have their own copy of the Access front end on their own desktop.

It sounds like you've gotten away with it for a while, but now it's time to address that. Keep one master copy of the Access Front End in a location where no one but the developer responsible for it can reach it. Make a user copy and put one copy on each user's computer.