Sharing Excel document over the network

Question

We have a number of Excel documents that live on shared folders, accessible over the network.

The problem we are having is that due to the way Excel works - by creating a temporary file in the destination folder that you specify in the Save As dialog box. Normally, the temporary file contains the entire contents of your workbook. If Excel is then successful, it saves the temporary file, the temporary file is renamed with the file name you specify in the Save As dialog box.

Under normal conditions, when you quit the Excel app, these Excel temp files are closed and deleted by Windows. However, this is not always the case and sometimes the Excel file itself ends up deleted and a temporary is all that remains.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? I'm trying to find the best way to handle this. I realise that appropriate permissions are required for Excel to rename / delete temporary files within its shared folder.

I had read that adding some keys to the following registry may assist (see https://www.zubairalexander.com/blog/how-to-fix-slow-access-to-network-shares/ for full explanation).

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Lanmanworkstation\Parameters

DirectoryCacheLifetime with a value of ZERO.

FileInfoCacheLifetime with a value of ZERO

It might be that where possible these files are transferred to SharePoint which might negate the issue. Either way, it would be good to know what the consensus is.

Thanks very much for any assistance.

Rob

Answer 1

Dear Rob4465,

Thanks for posting in Microsoft community. We are glad to help you.

Firstly, we would like to confirm the following information to help us understand your scenario better:

1. Where did you save the shared files and how did you share the Excel files?

2.What is your Office version? You may check through Files>Account.

Based on the test on our side, if we save the file in SharePoint online library, the file would be opened with the AutoSave feature on(Microsoft365 subscription version of Office). The changes would be saved to the online server automatically and we could save a copy of the file on local location with the Save as button. After saving the file to local, the Excel application will focus on the local file and turn off the AutoSave feature.

Please feel free to correct if I misunderstood your scenario. We'd like to help you, please let us cooperate and please don't worry, we can work together to narrow down and resolve the situation.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding! Hope you keep safe and healthy always.

Sincerely,

Sean | Microsoft Community Moderator