Are you unable to edit your Excel workbook due to an error message “The document is locked for editing by another user”?

If you also want to solve this Excel file locked by another user how to unlock mystery then you are on the right page. As today through this post, I am gonna share some easy fixes to resolve this Excel file is locked for editing by another user error.

Before that let’s find out why “The document is locked for editing by another user” error is appearing while trying to edit the Excel spreadsheet.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint Error: file is locked for editing Posted on 14th March 2014 by Amsys Whenever you save a Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel or PowerPoint) to your local hard drive or to a fileserver, an associated temporary file is created to the same location as your MS Office document. For example I will be able to open the file normally and then the next time I try the message says that the file is locked for editing by myself or another user. The exact message is the file in use dialogue box: Filename is locked for editing by 'username'. The document file name is locked for editing by another user. To open a read-only copy of his document, click.

How Word And Excel Files Become Non-Editable?

This error is not limited to the Excel file, MS Word users are also facing File is locked for editing by another user error message.

There are lots of causes that can trigger this type of error and prevent the user from editing Excel or word file.

If you haven’t quit the Excel file properly then the Excel application becomes unable to delete the owner file and hence when the user tries to open/edit the Excel file then they get “The document is locked for editing by another user” error message.

If the Excel file a Word file saved on the server then it is possible that the same file is getting used by another person at the same time.

Microsoft’s office creates a temporary ownership file for their Excel and Word, this file is present in the location of the document, having “~$” followed by the name of the file. For Example: The filename of “myfile.doc” will have an ownership file name “~$myfile.doc”, both the files are created on newmisserverpublic.

The file also contains the name of the owner who is currently editing the document. You can see the file on newmisserverpublic from a computer, but on a Mac, you can’t see this file.

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Why Is My Excel File Locked For Editing?

There are various causes that can trigger this type of Excel File Locked For Editing issues. Some of the common reasons for “The document is locked for editing by another user” error are as follows:

Microsoft Excel isn’t closed properly and, therefore, didn’t erase the owner file.
The second request of the Excel file is active in the background with the doc already open.
The Excel doc is shared over a network, and used by any other user.

Sometimes you may also get the error message saying that:

File in Use – {filename] is locked for editing by {username}. Open Read-Only” or click “Notify to receive a notification when the document is no longer in use.

Screenshot of the error:

How To Fix Microsoft Excel File Locked For Editing?

In order to solve this issue, we will disconnect the user from the file, and allow another user to get the complete accessibility, follow the below-given step:

Method 1# Disconnect User From The Opened Excel File And Unlock It

1: First you have to note down the path to the file, and the file name.

2: Open the run dialogue box, press the Windows Key + R from your keyboard to open up the Run dialog box.

3: In the run dialogue box, type “mmc” and then hit the Enter key to open up the “Microsoft Management Console“.

4: Choose the “File” > “Add/Remove Snap-in“.

5: From the list of “Available snap-ins”, choose the “Shared Folders” and then choose “Add” to add it to the “Selected snap-ins” list.

6: Another box will appear asking you to “Select the computer you want the snap-in to manage“. In case you are logged in on the server where the contaminated Excel file is present, then select “Local computer”. But if you are using a different system, then select the “Another computer”, then type the server where the Excel file stored.

7: Now, in the view section, choose the “Open Files“.

8: Choose the “OK“

9: Click on the “Open Files” to expand it.

10: You can sort the entire list according to your need and then search the file in the list. After it, right-click the file and, select “Close Open File”

Method 2# Quit All The Instances Of Excel

Follow the below-mentioned steps to terminate your PC from all the opened instances of Excel.

Try to save your ongoing work, after that exit from all programs.
Press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE button from your keyboard. This will open up the dialog box of Windows Security.
Hit the Task Manager and then go to the Processes tab.
Click Excel.exe, and then click End Process.

In the Task Manager Warning dialog box, click Yes.
If you are receiving locked for editing by another user or your program is not responding then click End Now.

On the File menu, tap to the Exit Task Manager.

Method 3# Same File Is Editing By Another User

If any other user is also working on the same excel file at the same time then you have the two options to perform. The first one is, either you can wait till that person releases the file. And the second one is to make a copy of your Excel file and make all the changes in this copied document.

Or you can also switch to such an app that allows multiple authors to work on the file concurrently.

Note: If you are working on the same Excel file with multiple users, then ensure that all the users must be using the same version of Excel which has well support for co-authoring.

Method 4# Office App Already Executing In Background

If you are very much sure that your excel file is not shared on the network nor it is been edited by any other user. In that case, chances are high that instances of the Office app along with the opened file are already executing in the background.

Method 5# Check Your Excel Version Support Co-Authoring Or Not

To work on the excel file which is used by multiple users at the same time, make sure all the users are using Excel version which supports co-authoring.

If your excel version support co-authoring than more than one person can easily open and work on the file at the same time. Apart from this, they can also view other user’s changes in just a few seconds.

Following Excel application Versions well support this co-authoring feature:

Excel Mobile
Excel for the web
Excel for Android
Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac*
Excel for iOS
Excel for Microsoft 365*

Note: Excel 2019 version doesn’t support this co-authoring feature.

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