Excel file locked for editing...by myself

Question

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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.

Answer 3

I've been having this issue on one of my Windows networks and finally took the time to figure it out. In my case, it wasn't nearly as complicated as some related threads might indicate. It's just a temporary file that needs to be deleted.

1. Excel (and probably any MS Office application) creates a temporary file in the same folder as the document when someone opens it on the network. The name of the temporary file is the same as the document with a tilde ( ~ ) in front of it. It is a hidden file as well as a “protected operating system" file, so it will not normally be displayed in the folder contents unless the View tab in Folder Options has been modified.
2. The temporary file should disappear when the document gets closed. Evidently there are circumstances under which the temporary file is left behind, resulting in an erroneous “File locked for editing by <user name>”.  There are Office patches which claim to resolve this issue at the workstation level, but deleting the temporary file is the most efficient workaround.
3. The name displayed in <user name> is from the “Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office” (File/Options/General). This might indicate a user whose computer is not up-to-date with patches.

Answer 4

To fix the problems a customer found the following solution:

Turn off the Details Pane shown at the bottom of Windows Explorer.  Go to Organize -> Layout -> Details Pane

Answer 5

I had the same problem today with an Excel.xlsx doc being shared by a Server 2012 R2 and allegedly locked by a user, who I confirmed did NOT have the file opened.

The solution was to delete the "owner file" ~$...xlsx. But I couldn't find it, even with "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" checked.

The only way for me to make the "owner file" visible was to uncheck "Hide protected operating system files."

I hope this helps!