Excel workbook not locking out other users, even though NOT Shared workbook

[ssh]

There are two ladies in my department who were updating an inventory log in an Excel spreadsheet. The workbook is NOT shared, although it resides on a shared network drive, so it should lock out one of the staff members if the other one is updating it. However, it isn’t. Both ladies are able to open the workbook in write-mode. When one lady updates the spreadsheet, saves it, then closes it, the other one can’t see the changes. The reverse is true, too—Lady 2 updates and saves spreadsheet, closes it, and Lady 1 can’t see the changes. It’s almost as if they were two independent workbooks, except they’re not.

It wasn’t until just now that we realized that this is happening. Consequently, all the inventory numbers are thrown off. What can be causing this? I should mention that the file is in Excel 97-2003 format, although both ladies are operating Excel 2007. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[GlennUK]

You say that they are not independent workbooks ... I hate to say this, but double and triple check that before going any further. Every time I have had someone say this to me it has turned out to be that one of the files was not the actual live data file, but a copy stored elsewhere.