"File in use by another user" message

[dmcnab]

Hi all...this is an Excel question, but perhaps also a Windows question? I have an Excel file (fairly large @ 6MB)..it is on my local C drive.....fairly frequently, when I go to open it, I get a message saying that the file is "...locked for editing by 'another user'..." and telling me to click Read Only, Notify or Cancel.....I know for certain that the file is not open elsewhere and it is not set up to be 'shared'.....the problem seems to occur mainly when I am using my computer and trying to access the file when I am connected to my work network, even if I am not logged into the network.....I have tried opening Excel and then going thru File-Open and navigating to the file; I have tried right-clicking and selecting "OPEN".... or right clicking and selecting "Open With"...and picking Excel.......any ideas as to what could be causing this?

[HansV]

Start Windows Explorer.
Select Organize and expand the Layout submenu.
If 'Details pane' is checked, as in the screenshot below, click on it to remove the check box.

S20.png

Do the same for 'Preview pane'.
(Leave 'Navigation pane' checked!)

Does that help?

[dmcnab]

Hi Hans....so far so good.....I will try to open, close, save, re-open a few times and see of the problem is gone....what does your suggestion 'do' or 'change' within Windows (or Excel ?) that solves this issue?

[HansV]

When the Details pane and/or the Preview pane are displayed, Windows reads information from a file when you select it in Windows Explorer. This should not cause the file to be locked, but apparently it sometimes does. Disabling the Details pane and Preview pane prevents that.

[dmcnab]

Thank you for that...good to know, b/c it seems to happen a lot..it didn't in Office 2003 but is rather prevalent in Offcie 2010