Excel file locked for editing...by myself

Question

Please check out<br>Excel file is locked for editing for the latest information on this topic.

I was working on an Excel file stored in Onedrive, using the Excel 2013 application (not the web application).  My system locked up (unrelated to Excel or Onedrive) and I had to hard power cycle the PC to recover.  Anyway, now upon opening the file in Excel it tells me the file is locked for editing by another user and the user is....me!  How can I force the file handle lock to be removed so that I can get back to editing with Excel?  I am not using the Onedrive application on my PC, I am interacting with the file directly via the Onedrive integration to Office 2013.

Answer 1

Hi! We've put together an article on Excel file lock behavior that we hope may be helpful.

Excel file is locked out for editing to another user

It's also always a great idea to check for updates and make sure you have the latest release.

Freya

Office Newsroom

Answer 2

Hello Royer,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

I know how this concerns you, let me help you to resolve this issue.

This behavior may occur if Excel determines that the owner file for the document already exists and this may also occur if one or more of the following are true:

1. Excel previously quit improperly and, therefore, did not delete the owner file.
2. A second instance of Excel is running in the background with the file already open.

Let's quit all instances of Excel, and then remove the owner file and verify the result.

To do so, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Check in ‘Task Manager’ whether Excel.exe process is running in the background.

* Open Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar, and then clicking Start Task Manager.

Tip: You can also open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

* Click on Processes tab/More Details (Windows 8).

* Look for Excel.exe or Microsoft Excel. If found, right click on the same and then click on End Process and End Process.

2. Start Windows Explorer, and then browse to the (Temp) folder that contains the Excel file that you tried to open when you received the error message.

Temp folder location: C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\Temp

3. Delete the owner file.

The owner file is located in the same folder as the document that you tried to open. The owner file name uses the following convention: It begins with a tilde (~), followed by a dollar sign ($), followed by the remainder of the document file name. The file name extension is *.xls or *.xlsx. For example, the owner file for Document.xls or xlsx is named ~$cument.xls or xlsx.

4. Now try downloading and opening the Excel file from OneDrive and verify the result.

I hope the above suggestions helps to resolve your issue. Try the suggestion and let me know the results at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

Do as mentioned by Daniel and try this

1.Copy the file in the same location(copy file)

2.Rename file(file) as file 1.

3.Rename copy file as file.

*4.*Remove file 1. 

you may resolve your problem.

Answer 3

I edit my file on my phone and on couple of other machines. This happens all the time.

I had to create countless new copies of the same file just to save it. This is ridiculous and extremely frustrating.

I don't trust this feature anymore, I just save files in OneDrive for backup and never edit them there.

Answer 4

For windows 7 it is the "show processes from all users" in windows 7 task manager, 

kill all the excel processes. ,

Answer 5

David: I'm experiencing exactly the same scenario. Very frustrating.