Why are my xlsx files locked for editing? Last week they opened just fine. Today, 3 of the 8 files in the same folder will only open as Read Only.

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Why are my xlsx files locked for editing? Last week they opened just fine. Today, 3 of the 8 files in the same folder will only open as Read Only.

Issue started today when I tried to open a few xlsx files. There are 8 files in the same folder but only 3 are giving me this problem (I had those 3 opened last week and had no issues). I get the message "File is Locked for Editing" and gives me the option to cancel or open Read Only. I opened RO and after several seconds another pop up says the file "is available. do you want to edit it now?" I click on Edit and the original message of it being locked for editing pops up. Vicious cycle.

So I renamed the file and saved it to my desktop. I then command-delete the original, then copied the newly named file to the folder (after first opening from the desktop to verify all was good. It was). I opened the new file and it opened ok. After closing I renamed it to the original file name and lo and behold got the same errors again. Vicious cycle continues.

I've restarted but it hasn't corrected the issue. Would appreciate a solution if anyone has one. I've read about hidden files and such but have no idea where to even look. This all started today after a cold start up.

OS X is El Capitan 10.11.3. I run MS Office for MAC and Word files opened w/o issue as do other xlsx files. I've deleted my recent items list but nothing works.

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), MS Office for MAC is up to date

Posted on Mar 7, 2016 8:07 AM

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Answer 1

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golpher3 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 7, 2016 9:45 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thank you for the response and direction. After viewing some other reports of the same problem I figured out how to search in Finder (Open folder and use "search" window) for the files beginning with ~$ that seemed to be the cause. I found the files affected and did a command>delete, and although the file didn't actually disappear, the audio alert sounded indicating the file had been deleted. I then went back and renamed my files to their original name and they all opened just fine. We'll see how it goes after this.

But thanks again for directing me to the MS site which allowed me to view other situations and suggestions.

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Answer 2

Mar 7, 2016 8:24 AM in response to golpher3

You might try asking your Office for Mac question in the Office for Mac forums http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac where the Office for Mac gurus hang out.

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