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Cannot Release Lock on SharePoint Online File
SharePoint thinks a user still has a lock on. I can't adminsitratively do anything with the file online. This has been going on for almost a day.
We've cleared cache, closed Excel on his computer, cleared out some local cashe directories, rebooted, etc.
Nothing is clearing up this lock.
All I want to do is delete the file at this point, and I can't even do that.
What are my options as a Global Admin?
Locks is a complex topic and technically a client or network issue. SharePoint supports co-authoring locks unless you have Check In/Out enabled on the library. Client side locks will occur if Office cannot negotiate a co-author lock falling back to an exclusive lock. As others have pointed out, the upload center can contribute to locking and is one of the first things you should check. You can trace the calls via Fiddler on the client.
This is the technical explanation from PSS:
When a user attempts to open an Office file hosted on SharePoint in the Office client, there is an expected set of network calls we should be seeing unless there is a problem. Once a user clicks that Office file to open in client, code on the SharePoint page and (if using Internet Explorer) the Office 365 browser addon sends a command to initialize the client application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Once the Office client application starts launching, Office will start a HTTP conversation with SharePoint. If the Office call is already authenticated, the Office will be returned the file content. However, if not already authenticated, which is usually expected to be the case, Office will negotiate for Authentication with SharePoint. This process happens through two networking calls called OPTIONS calls. The first OPTIONS call is anonymous and expected to be rejected by SharePoint as to establish what types of authentication SharePoint will accept. The second options call will include the requested authentication information to SharePoint. If SharePoint accepts the second options, call, it will return a METHOD call, identifying what network verbs can be used to communicate with it (OPTIONS, GET, LOCK, PROPFIND, and POST are all examples of verbs for this process). Once the verbs are established the Office client will make a POST network call that requests the metadata for the file, adds the user’s session lock state (coauthor lock or exclusive lock) and to request to open the file from the CellStorage web service in SharePoint. If the Office client has never accessed the document before, the entire document will be downloaded from SharePoint and cached in the Office Document Cache. If the Office client has opened the file before, then it is already cached and only the changes will be downloaded. At this point, the Office file will open in the Office client. This entire process happens between a few milliseconds to a few seconds.
I just discovered a strange variation of this issue:
When clicking a document, Word Online will open the document in a new browser tab.
If you close that tab before Word Online has completed loading, a document lock has already been set.
But not released. Even if you open the same document with the same user again.
Users are able to edit the document, because of the co-authoring feature.
But you cannot rename / delete or restore versions.
You will get the error "The file ... is locked for shared use by <the last user who edited the document>"
Until the lost lock has been kicked by some cloud-service job. Normally means next morning...
The Word file in OneDrive/sharepoint doesn't open in a new browser. It is locked by the ghost of me. I can't unlock it. I'm stymied.
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.
This is a persistent issue with something fundamental to Office 365 and seriously needs looking in to by Office Microsoft !!
This is also what I usually have to do is open a previous version. I usually get lucky and it shows me having opened one earlier that day when it locked. But on the rare occasion it does not, and I am forced to open an older one and loose data. Michael Butterfield
Doesn't work for me.
I'm on a Mac. Using Chrome. A file I opened and edited is still locked by me. No one else has worked on it. I closed the browser. I shut Word. There is no unlock option. Does someone have step-by-step instructions to close a file that a ghost of myself has locked?
Charles Boisseau Just experienced the same issue with a user. To remedy I cleared the cache in Microsoft Upload Centre, no luck. Then I cleared the cache in Microsoft Upload Centre 2013, no luck. Then I cleared the internet history and cache, no luck. Then I stopped the users One Drive Sync, Success!
The user had accidentally clicked on the "Sync" button at the top of the library which had created a folder in One Drive which had not yet synced with SharePoint. I removed the synced folder from one drive to prevent this recoccuring.
Not sure if any of the actions I took prior to stopping the One Drive sync had any effect, but the above resolved the issue.
- Thanks for the fix, I will try this next time! Be nice for a permanent fix by Microsoft though........
It seems we are waiting on a major update, hopefully autumn this year.
As I understood MS is working on the full integration of SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams regarding file handling. The bug in Teams on locking files when doing online or in Teams editing is also a result from this not being properly integrated yet. Also complete security management is involved. Let's hope MS is not overstepping its capabilities here and will find a solution soon. This locking issue is really blocking global adoption and deployment from as well classic SharePoint as Teams.
When someone opens an Office file in the Office Online feature --> the file is locked!
Very nasty when supporting automated processes...
Its very ugly:
Its very user unfriendly:
Maybe an idea to support = https://sharepoint.uservoice.com/forums/330318-sharepoint-administration/suggestions/15681144-solution-for-the-file-filename-is-locked-for-ex
First time I encountered this, I realized I had the file open in a different browser tab which was minimized and out-of-view. So, my mistake, I really did have the file locked for use by me.
- For Microsoft Teams MS aknowledged a global issue with the Teams vs SharePoint vs OneDrive vs security services integration. Development team is looking at it. Solution can only be expected at a new update what can take still months. (On Office365)
Locks is a complex topic and technically a client or network issue. SharePoint supports co-authoring locks unless you have Check In/Out enabled on the library. Client side locks will occur if Office cannot negotiate a co-author lock falling back to an exclusive lock. As others have pointed out, the upload center can contribute to locking and is one of the first things you should check. You can trace the calls via Fiddler on the client.
This is the technical explanation from PSS:
When a user attempts to open an Office file hosted on SharePoint in the Office client, there is an expected set of network calls we should be seeing unless there is a problem. Once a user clicks that Office file to open in client, code on the SharePoint page and (if using Internet Explorer) the Office 365 browser addon sends a command to initialize the client application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Once the Office client application starts launching, Office will start a HTTP conversation with SharePoint. If the Office call is already authenticated, the Office will be returned the file content. However, if not already authenticated, which is usually expected to be the case, Office will negotiate for Authentication with SharePoint. This process happens through two networking calls called OPTIONS calls. The first OPTIONS call is anonymous and expected to be rejected by SharePoint as to establish what types of authentication SharePoint will accept. The second options call will include the requested authentication information to SharePoint. If SharePoint accepts the second options, call, it will return a METHOD call, identifying what network verbs can be used to communicate with it (OPTIONS, GET, LOCK, PROPFIND, and POST are all examples of verbs for this process). Once the verbs are established the Office client will make a POST network call that requests the metadata for the file, adds the user’s session lock state (coauthor lock or exclusive lock) and to request to open the file from the CellStorage web service in SharePoint. If the Office client has never accessed the document before, the entire document will be downloaded from SharePoint and cached in the Office Document Cache. If the Office client has opened the file before, then it is already cached and only the changes will be downloaded. At this point, the Office file will open in the Office client. This entire process happens between a few milliseconds to a few seconds.
Alan UmanosMicrosoft
To add to Trevor's post, any time a file is opened from SharePoint, regardless of using Office Online or the Office client, a lock state will be set. If we're only looking at opening files using the Office client, and file check out is not required in the SharePoint doc library, then the lock state is determined by the end user's Office client. If the user has Office 365 Pro Plus Click to Run, and is on the Monthly update channel, then the user will always set a co-authoring lock unless checking out a file. If on say, the Office 365 Pro Plus MSI client, then any time a user opens an Excel file from SharePoint, the lock state will ALWAYS be an exclusive lock since Office 2016 / Office 365 Pro Plus MSI cannot co-author with Excel files in the client. Because a lock state will always be applied when opening files, if a file has an exclusive lock set and SharePoint is never told the end user is done editing said file, the file lock will remain until the lock either expires or SharePoint is told the user who set the lock is done with the file. Regardless of lock type (Co-authoring or Exclusive), If a lock is applied to a file, it cannot be renamed, moved, or deleted. However It can still be copied or downloaded locally. If the Office client crashes while saving the file, or the internet connection drops, the pending file information will show up in the MS upload center where it can be pushed back to SharePoint, thus releasing the lock.Hello!
I just went through this whole situation with a user who had created a file last night, edited it and shared it with two other employees who also edited the file last night.
This morning no one could edit the file due to multiple locks.
When trying to delete it said user had the file locked for offline editing.
When opening the file in local Word, the file showed it was being edited offline by said user on 4 different devices.
I found that there is a document cache in the Upload Center.
Once we logged the user in to every device they use and deleted the troublesome file from his Upload Center document cache, the file was able to be deleted.
I hope that helps someone.
Brian
- Once I removed the document from the MS Office 2016 Upload Center Cache, I was able to add a new version to the document on Sharepoint(O365).
Thank you for this tp.
I have same problem for Office 365 group site. in my case:
- Creating file online example 'WORD' and save from browser itself.
- Share file with someone within organization
- copy file to other folder in same site
and then I have use case to remove file.
I am getting error message the file is locked by other user and can't delete it.
Please let me know if someone got exact solution of this issues.
- Sees like I have the exact same issue as you describe here.
I seems that i have the exact same problem as you describe.
This is what worked for me. After syncing the library and finding the lock symbol on all the files in the library displayed in my File Explorer, this is what I did:
- Remove all required column status from all fields. Be sure to include the default Title field. You might have to drill into the Document and/or Item Content Types to get to it. (I have found that it seems to be set as a required field by default in the standard Document content type)
- Enable version control inclusive of drafts, be sure it is set for 'anyone who can read'. Save. Then return and disable it.
- Enable Content Approval and save. Then return and disable it.
The key one, for whatever reason, was #3. When I did that, a message box popped up on my monitor saying something like 'you can now edit your files in OneDrive'. When I checked my File Explorer, the locks were gone. I verified today that other users who are syncing this library to their File Explorer are also now able to edit the files (the lock was gone for them, too).
Below is my original post.... LOL.... I was pretty excited to see that this worked. I hope it does for you, too.
Out of desperation, I enabled Content Approval and then disabled Content Approval and.....
Low and behold I got a pop up from ODB saying 'You can now edit your files'. I opened my File Explorer....yes...wait for it....and the LOCK WAS GONE! OMG, I spent hours on this to find that it was one check box for a feature I'd never enabled for the library. Why it was affecting its performance, I haven't a clue, but it worked. WHEW!
I had the same issue and this worked for me:
Close Excel
Open the document library where the file is located. Select the file and delete.
Go to the recycle bin and restore the file.
Open the file again and nos I can edit.
- Same issues here with several users. Upload Center seems to be out of control. There is clearly something wrong. I found this old post http://robertgreiner.com/2014/12/fixing-pending-upload-issues-with-microsoft-office-upload-center/. Anyone here having experience with virus scanner software interfering?
I have the same problem on a wordfile. SP Online, Library has major versions enabled but no check-out required. I'm getting "the file is locked for shared use by....myself".
I opened the document in word browser and wrote some stuff. It saved and I navigated back, when I try to change a property in a choice column, I get that error message.
I think it is a very misleading error message because I thought that co-authoring would also not work when I read "locked for shared use..". But co-authoring works, no problem.
Solution for me is to open document in client and close it. Then I can change properties without any problems.
Don't like this....
Your description is exactly what I've been getting. The file cannot be checked out or checked in with or without versioning and require check out. Frustrating. I need to run a Power Automate flow on the file and it throws the error.
Hello
We have the same issue but in our case, its Sharepoint 2013, On-premise.
User has opened a doc in a library, made changes to word doc, tried to save and close.
The document is not able to be checked back in by domainname\user.
We then notice that the file is in th Upload Centre as "Upload failed" .. and says check out for editing by the above user.
The impact is that other users have gon in and made changes after, so versioning is turned on which means the file has been overwritten. We resolve this by comparing the document with the current versions in SP.
We have tried all of the usual fixes, like clearing the cache etc.,
We have also noticed that even though Microsoft say that the file is locked after closing for 10 mins, in one instance it took more than 30 minutes, but most cases not at all.
Thanks
