Problem Opening Shared Workbook
Posted by Mark Ridgeway on October 19, 2000 1:47 PM
Hi,
When I try to open a shared workbook Excel 2000 gives me a warning that the workbook is locked for editing by a specific user but, I'm sure it isn't being used by that user or any other user. It will allow us to view it Read Only and we copied off the data but, now we can't rename, move, or delete the file. It is a shared workbook. How can we remove this edit lock on the file so that we can either use it or remove it?
Thanks,
Mark
Posted by Barney Mowder on November 21, 2000 11:32 AM
Mark-
Like you, I ran into this problem, and here's what I found:
THis is a closely guarded secret- NOBODY has posted anything
I can find on the subject.
The sutuation was that there was a shared Excel spreadsheet on an NT 4.0
shared drive, and whenever anyone tried to open it, he got that
'<file>.xls is locked for editing by <user>' message.
The bad part was that <user> DIDN'T have the file open.
Here's what I did (you have to have administrator privileges to do it, so contact your I.T. guy):
There's a way to open the file manager (remember the file manager?)
under NT 4.0 Find and execute WINFILE.EXE (it should be in C:\winnt\system32).
Once it starts, select the problem file, then go to the file menu, and select properties.
A dialog box will open, and there will be a button marked, 'Open by...'
When you click on the 'Open by...' button, a dialog will pop up which lists the owners of
the present locks and transactions on the file.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!: Go and find the user, and make SURE he/she is NOT editing the file on
ANY MACHINE. If he/she is, have him/her close it.
If (AND ONLY IF) the user isn't editing the file, select the lock list and then click
the 'Close Selected' button. A warning window will pop up.
If you are SURE that this is waht you want, click OK, then OK in the properties window, and you're done.
Hope this helps...
