When working the helpdesk, I get many calls from users who say they cannot edit a Microsoft Excel file because it is locked and in use by other user.
Excel shared drive 'The document is locked for editing by' with incorrect name Posted by Jared Thomas, Last modified by Jared Thomas on 08 March 2016 08:53 AM Microsoft Office documents that reside on a shared drive and are opened by multiple users have a feature whereby a user will be notified if the Office document that they are trying to. Apr 17, 2018 The document file name is locked for editing by another user. To open a read-only copy of his document, click.
The message that appears will say “File in Use – {filename] is locked for editing by {username}. Open ‘Read-Only” or click “Notify to receive notification when the document is no longer in use.”
![Document locked for editing by me sharepoint Document locked for editing by me sharepoint](http://www.amsys.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/files-locked-for-editing.png)
If the user is away at lunch or gone for the day, and the file needs to be edited now, it makes it quite the conundrum. Fortunately, there is a way to kick the user out of the file remotely.
Note: These steps are for System Administrators or personnel with Administrator access to the server where the Excel file resides. If you cannot perform these steps, talk to your IT folks for them to perform these steps for you.
To boot the user from the file and allow another user to access it, follow these steps:
- Note the path to the file, and the file name.
- Hold the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run dialog box.
- Type “mmc“, then press “Enter” to bring up the “Microsoft Management Console“.
- Select “File” > “Add/Remove Snap-in“.
- In the list of “Available snap-ins“, select “Shared Folders“, then select “Add” to add it to the “Selected snap-ins” list.
- A box will appear that asks you to “Select the computer you want the snap-in to manage“. If you are logged in on the server where the locked Excel file resides, choose “Local computer“. If you are logged in at a different computer, select “Another computer“, then type or Browse to the server where the Excel file resides.
- In the view section, select “Open Files“.
- Select “OK“
- Expand the list of “Open Files“.
- Sort the list as desired. I personally like to sort by username. Find the file in the list, then right-click the file and choose “Close Open File“.
That’s it! You have disconnected the user who had the file open and unlocked it. The new user who wants to edit the file now will be able to exit Excel, then re-open the file to edit it.
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After updating my LibreOffice installation to 5.4.12 whenever I try to open a LibreOffice file I get a message stating 'Document file 'xxxx.ods' is locked for editing by yourself on a different system. This seems to be occurring only after updating to v 5.4.12. I know I can open the files in read only and save the file to a new name for editing. This can be quite cumbersome. Is there fix for this? Since I have the .msi file for the previous version can I uninstall and reinstall the earlier version. Also I read that a system restore helped someone with the same problem. Would that work?
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