Is there a way to access Sharepoint Resource files via designer or some other mechanism that doesn't require going to the app directory?
I do not have access to the server where sharepoint lives, however, I do have access to designer and do have admin access to the sharepoint.
With SharePoint Designer you can only edit files stored in the Content Database, and you cannot access those that are stored in the 14 hive (file system), like:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Resources
There is no way to access those files if you have not access permissions on the server or the directory. The only way is to ask your System Administrator to give you those permissions.
On the other hand, you MUST consider that direct modification of the 14 hive files is not recommended or supported.
To my knowledge this is not possible with the Designer. To access the resource files you need to run under elevated privileges. One way to overcome it that comes to mind would be to have a copy of the resource files in site library and access them from there.
