You cannot consolidate a Sage Drive company while the company is shared
Sage 50 blocks consolidation while other users have the Sage Drive company open; everyone must close it first.
When Sage 50 tells you “You cannot consolidate a Sage Drive company while the company is shared,” it means the company file is currently checked out or actively connected through Sage Drive, and the consolidation feature will not run until that sharing is fully released. Despite the word “cannot,” this is usually a temporary lock, not permanent damage.
Why it happens
Consolidation restructures data inside the company file. Sage 50 refuses to attempt that work while the file is open on another machine or held open by a Sage Drive sync session, because doing so risks corrupting the file or losing the other user’s unsaved entries. The message is a safety guard, not an error in the file itself.
Close the company on every other machine
Ask everyone who uses this company file to exit Sage 50 completely. That includes anyone working locally, anyone connected through a network share, and anyone who has the file open through Sage Drive on another computer. After they close out, wait a moment for the Sage Drive sync to settle, then try the consolidation again.
Check in the Sage Drive dashboard
If you are not sure whether someone still has the file open, look at the Sage Drive management screen within Sage 50. It shows which users are connected and whether the company is currently shared. If a session appears stuck — the user closed Sage 50 but the connection did not release — you may need to wait for the sync timeout or sign the user out from that screen, depending on your Sage 50 version and setup.
Sign out and sign back in to Sage Drive
If no one else appears to have the file open but the message persists, the share flag may be stale. Signing out of Sage Drive and signing back in can reset the connection state. After re-authenticating, open the company file locally and attempt the consolidation before re-sharing.
When the lock will not release
Sometimes the sharing state becomes genuinely stuck — typically after a crash, an interrupted sync, or a machine that lost its network connection mid-session. In that situation the file is not damaged yet, but it cannot be consolidated until the lock is cleared. If repeated attempts to close and reopen do not resolve it, the file may need professional attention to reset the sharing state safely.
If you are also considering moving this Sage 50 company to QuickBooks, that is a separate process from consolidation and does not require the file to be shared or unshared — we can evaluate the file and provide a free quote.
If the sharing lock persists after trying the steps above, send us the file for a free evaluation and our engineers will identify what is holding it open.