Opening Document locking for editing through file explorer versus recents list

Question

I'm looking for some insight into how an excel file is locked for editing. Is there a difference in how the file locking works for opening the file from its direct file location through the file explorer versus if I open the file through the recents list inside excel?

I've had a couple of times recently when I think I have ownership of a shared document, on account of not getting the notification when opening the file, going to hit save and discovering that the document says others have been editing it. Upon asking all the other people, nobody had accessed the document since before I had opened the document. In this process, I opened it through the Recents list, I haven't experienced this through the file explorer.

I am currently operating off Microsoft 365 for business with version 2404 build 17531.20190, and in general the files accessed are located on a cloud network drive.

Any insight that anybody can give me on this would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You may let IT to kick the user out of that file.

Go to Computer Management -> System Tools -> Shared Folders -> Open Files to find out who has a document locked. If the user can't be contacted to disconnect themselves, you can forcefully do so by right clicking the locked file and selecting Close Open File

Microsoft Office document is "locked for editing by 'another user'" - Super User