Microsoft excel- unknown error trying to lock file

Question

My users with Win 10 pro (up to date) is having trouble opening files (xlsx and xlsm) from SharePoint in Excel app, they are getting the error "Unknown error trying to lock file." They are running Excel 2016, fully up to date. Only my users who use 2016 version got this problem and I notice only the excel file, word and other apps no issue.

Tried the same files on SharePoint on other computers and same error. I tried different file on SharePoint same error too. I tried convert the file only on the SharePoint can edit, when open on apps (read-only) Error- "Unknown error trying to lock file" . Teams and Outlook are on this computer and are having no trouble. I was also able to open word files on SharePoint with no issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi all,

The problem is escalated and the fix code is deploying. You should waiting for the update to fix this problem completely.

Thanks for your understanding.

:)

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Answer 2

Hi everyone,

I found a fix!

Open the documents through File Explorer on the computer instead of through the browser. If you're not the owner of the file, then you'll need to go into the browser, go to the file you want, save shortcut to your files, and then it should be accessible in your file explorer (of course assuming you have your OneDrive set up to your computer).

This automatically saved the issue with our team and everyone was able to edit again.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

We've been able to resolve 5 cases so far by doing the following:

1. Update Excel (File -> Account -> Update Options -> Update Now) 
   1. Every case i've found so far had an update pending
2. Reboot After Update is Complete
3. Sign Out of Excel 
4. Have user Sign Back in
5. Open a spreadsheet from Sharepoint
6. In 2 cases, I've had to log off excel one more time and resign in.

I know - it's a bit of a rain dance solution, but it seems to be working in our environment. Good luck everyone!

Answer 4

Hi @Nur Adibah binti Abd Razak,

I suggest you try to add the SharePoint site as a trusted site on your browser. Go to IE- select Internet Options- Security- Trusted sites- click Sites enter the URL of the site and click Add.

Did you check if you download the Workbook to locally, if this problem still existed?

You can also try to disable Protected View in Excel. Open Excel- go to File- Options- Trust Center- Trust Center Settings- Protect View > uncheck Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

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Answer 5

I'm having a slightly different issue where all of a sudden all of our licensed users are unable to view Microsoft applications in the browser, they can only view in the desktop. While working in the app allows collaboration, it's counter-intuitive, we cannot change the default to open in the app and sharing links in Teams, Outlook etc. don't work, unless you send the link to the folder that the file is in, which is pretty cumbersome.

Is anyone else experiencing this or has a fix? We have not had any success (for 2 weeks) with our internal team, MSP and Microsoft tech this far in finding a root-cause or a solution. Our MSP has given up and asked us to work directly with MS. MS does not answer our questions, but sends us emails to tell us they are working on the solution. They have breached their SLA, but I am desperate to find a solution since it's impacting my entire org.