Dec 04, 2012  Re: File.xls is locked for editing by me but I am not using the file. Microsoft visio for mac. I'm in XP and my file is on a shared drive. This solution worked for me: Right-Click on My Computer and select Manage. Re: Cannot Release Lock on SharePoint Online File The solution I found was to Restore the locked out file to a previous version. That essentially kicks the user (who the file thinks is editing) out and allows you to then rename/ delete/ move etc the file again.

I was hoping to find a quick solution to this, but it looks like everyone is still in the same boat as me. For the record I have found a work-around that seems to work every time but it's cumbersome. It's somewhat similar to the solution posted previously. 1) Open the file (even if forced to do so as read-only). 2) 'Save as' and rename the file with a different name (I usually use the same file name with a '-new' at the end). 3) Find the file using Windows Explorer and either delete the old version or right-click on it and rename it with '-old' at the end of the file name. 4) Rename the most recent file you just created and remove the '-new' from the file name.

That way it will have the same file name as it did before and any links to the file with that original name will still work. I'm in XP and my file is on a shared drive.

This solution worked for me: Right-Click on My Computer and select Manage. Then right-click on Computer Management in the Left Panel and click 'Connect to another Computer.' And then select the server your locked file is on. (Skip that if it's on your local drive.) Then expand System Tools and Shared Folders, and click on Open Files. I found my locked file in that list.

You can right-click on the file name and select 'Close Open File' if you have system permissions to do that. If you don't, you have to ask an admin to do it for you.

It worked for me after our admin showed me how. Bob L Chicago. Ok, I've had this problem for a while and decided to invest some time on it. It's so frustrating since there was no apparent reason for the file to be locked up. This is for people having the file locked by themselves (the error message tells you that you are the one locking it), you see no excel.exe open even if you check task manager. After checking the DLL's and Handles with files on them, the result was cidaemon.exe having a lock on each of the excel files, this executable is resposible for indexing files in a Microsoft Windows environment.

I particularly don't require of this CPU consuming service so I went ahead and removed all catalogs from its configuration panel and turned it off. You can find these options thru Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management (I'm using Windows XP, you can search in other Windows flavors to get to the same place). From there, go to Services and Applications > Indexing Service Right click Indexing Service and select STOP Here you can enjoy lock free excel files To disable indexing I went ahead and deleted the so called Catalogs from that panel (System, Visio, etc).

As I mentioned earlier, this is a particular case and your's could be something else depending on your environment (i.e. Another user actually having the file open, you Antivirus refusing to let go, etc), but you can check this out as it doesn't hurt disabling Indexing for a moment. If you particularly need indexing services, look for a way to avoid the location of these files in the configuration of the Catalog. Hope it helps someone. As mentioned in previous posts.