File.xls is locked for editing by me but I am not using the file .

[rmtaylor]

Hi
I have an Excel spreadsheet that I share with another local office. When I try and open it, it says that it is locked for editing by me when I know this is not the case.
Excel will not allow me to open the sheet unless its in read-only mode. The last time this occurred I solved it by saving the file under a new name, consequently I had to reset shortcuts for the six others who impute data onto the sheet.
Any assistance to help me to solve this would be appreciated.

Thanks & regards
Robert

 

[Candace]

This seems too simple, but what worked for me was deleting the excel file of the same name that was preceded by "~". For example, my file was "policy.xls", and there was a second file, "~policy.xls" in the same folder. When I deleted the second file, the first unlocked. Maybe a coincidence?

Good luck!

 

[Rokkit]

So many solutions, none of which worked for me.

My file is on a shared server. I unshared the folder that it resided in, got a warning message that changes to the file would be lost because I am still connected to it (oh the irony). I said ok, then re-shared the folder and all is good.

Something else to try in the long list of things mentioned above.

 

[CharlieP]

I had about 10 files open when Excel crashed - and then I could not open any of them to edit. Restarting the computer did not work - but just logging off and then logging back on cleared all of the files. This is Excel 2000 on Win 7.

 

[richardmartinj]

I had about 10 files open when Excel crashed - and then I could not open any of them to edit. Restarting the computer did not work - but just logging off and then logging back on cleared all of the files. This is Excel 2000 on Win 7.

If the file is stored over the network, Goto windows folder settings of your desktop of server and enable "show hide protected operating system files". Make sure the original file is not accessed by anyone and delete the file starting with the "~" relevant to the locked out file. This should fix the issue.

 

[linoboy]

Hi
I have an Excel spreadsheet that I share with another local office. When I try and open it, it says that it is locked for editing by me when I know this is not the case.
Excel will not allow me to open the sheet unless its in read-only mode. The last time this occurred I solved it by saving the file under a new name, consequently I had to reset shortcuts for the six others who impute data onto the sheet.
Any assistance to help me to solve this would be appreciated.

Thanks & regards
Robert

i had the same problem and what i did was open the file in notify when is available, disconnect the computer from the network 5minutesand switch on the network and it was fix

 

[tcaserta75]

Hi
I have an Excel spreadsheet that I share with another local office. When I try and open it, it says that it is locked for editing by me when I know this is not the case.
Excel will not allow me to open the sheet unless its in read-only mode. The last time this occurred I solved it by saving the file under a new name, consequently I had to reset shortcuts for the six others who impute data onto the sheet.
Any assistance to help me to solve this would be appreciated.

Thanks & regards
Robert

I simply right click on the excel file and select Open.

 

[becig]

OK I have a similar issue but the no matter who is in the file, it always states it's the same person. Even when she is not in the office! We have an Excel file that is shared within the office by 4 or 5 people. If someone is using it, it is locked for editing, which is normal, but it always says "Jane Doe" is using it. Jane Doe is not the author of the document, and I have checked all users in the File>Options>General part in excel and it all shows their own user name. Can anyone shed any light on this please? And not too complicated as I'm NOT an IT expert!

 

[mole999]

Corporate environment, sounds like your IT team just gave a machine a user ID for Excel. Have a look at your Office Registration

 

[becig]

Corporate environment, sounds like your IT team just gave a machine a user ID for Excel. Have a look at your Office Registration

HI - how do I do that please?

 

[becig]

mole999: Does that make sense if we're only talking about a problem with 1 excel file? We don't have this issue for any other shared excel files.