SharePoint Excel document read-only // checked out to specific user

Question

Good afternoon all,

A small group of people are having an issue with documents being opened as read-only (after checking out) or unable to edit due to {insert user name here} having it opened/checked out.

We are using a Sharepoint website (looks like an older version - don't know how to check) to check in and out documents and Excel documents seem to be the ones giving us the issues.

The users having the issue are all using the new Office 365 Excel, Word, etc suite and we open the documents we check out with the programs - not online.

All permission are set correctly, this issue only started to happen about two months ago.

Upload Center 2013 shows no pending uploads and we have tired clearing the upload center cache - but no luck.

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An example:

>Mia Gray needs to update her daily productivity on the portal.

>Mia logs into the work computer using her account (graym) which is on the work domain.

>She goes to www.ExampleWebsite.com/Manager on Internet Explorer and checks out her productivity.xlsx

>A window pops up that prompts - Would you like to open as Read-Only or Check out and Edit. She selects check out-edit.

>Excel launches and loads document.

>Once the document loads, she finds out that on top there is a yellow strip that says 'read-only - to edit you'll need to check out.'

>When clicking to edit, there is an error message stating that 'File is already checked out to user 'graym',' and that the document will remain as read only or she can save a local copy.

>graym is Mia's log in, which she is currently logged in as. She has used Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge and all are having the same issue.

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The only workaround we are able to do is to download a copy, delete the original excel doc off the portal, rename file to something like productivity_2021.xlsx, and reupload. Then user 'graym' is able to check out, edit, then check back in. However, this only a temporary fix as the next day (or moments later) the document needs to be reuploaded with a different file name.

What can be causing this issue?

Answer 1

Hi Richiee,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on the description, it seems like some users will face some issues when they open a document in local Office apps from a SharePoint site.

Before you check following details, please make sure you and your colleagues are having this issue when using SharePoint Online, if you are using SharePoint Server like SharePoint 2013, we are sorry to convey that forum engineers here focus on SharePoint Online and have limited experience or test resources on SharePoint Server. The related community is office-sharepoint-server-itpro - Microsoft Q&A.

I did some tests and here are the expected behavior. See also: Check out, check in, or discard changes to files in a SharePoint library - Office Support (microsoft.com)

1.Site owner created a workbook and checked it in.

2.Site member Mia Gray opened this workbook in local Excel app and clicked Check out to be able to edit the workbook locally.

3.Mia Gray edited the workbook normally. When the workbook is synced and clicked close button, Excel will pop out a box saying Do you want to check in. When clicked Yes, it will ask for version comments. Please note, do NOT click on Keep the document checked out after checking in this version.

4.Other users will be able to check out the workbook and edit it to check in normally.

Here are some other details we need if you want to further troubleshoot the issue.

1.Similar behavior for a document but from your description, it seems like the issue only happens on Excel workbook. Hence, please create a new workbook in the same library to narrow down if the issue is related with some other permission settings about the workbook.

2.As all Checked-Out files will show a signal in the Document Library, may I know if you or Mia Gray herself/himself will see the icon from the Document library when Mia Gray got the error 'File is already checked out to user 'graym'?

3.As you mentioned the issue will happen again just few moments after Mia Gray reuploads a workbook, the issue may be more related with the way Mia Gray check in the file, so please follow the same steps below after Mia Gray reuploads this time. Also, ask if other user following above steps will encounter with the similar error message like Mia Gray.

4.For this 'graym is Mia's log in, which she is currently logged in as. She has used Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge and all are having the same issue', as you mentioned Mia Gray only opens the file locally, can she have a try to check-out file>edit file>check-in file only via browser? This helps us to narrow down the issue to the SharePoint side or the local Excel app side.

Feel free to post back.

Best Regards,

Mia

Answer 2

Good morning,

Thank you very much for your swift reply!

Upon checking, it appears as though we are running SharePoint Server 2007.

Would I have to open up a new thread on the website provided?

When associates are not having issues, they are able to get the 'Check-in' pop up once they have saved and hit the X to close - making sure to keep checked out it unticked. I myself have actually had this issue when working with affected users accounts - permissions are still the same and have not been changed.

I have site owner permissions so I am unable to replicate the issue.

Users having the issue are able to upload new files on the SharePoint server, however, those too will momentarily work and then the next day will have the read-only issue again.

Best regards

Answer 3

Hi,

If so, I would recommend you to post in Microsoft Q&A-SharePoint Server related forum as it seems like in Server side, the signal for a check-out file is not like the red icon in SharePoint Online to confirm if the issue is related with check-out/check-in status or any other background cache caused by users accounts side.

Also, if needed(as it happens on lots of users), I would suggest you and your organization to open a support ticket and then engineers there will have the support resources to do a remote session with your organization and get the specific logs to further locate the cause of the issue more efficiently.

Microsoft 365 Business/Enterprise subscription will have the privilege to have the online support. See: Get support | Microsoft Docs. (As you are the admin in your organization, just sign in Admin Center to contact engineers in support ticket channel.) Also, share this thread link for engineers there to get familiar with the scenario on your side more efficiently.

Best Regards,

Mia