SharePoint Online - Excel File locked by User

Question

We have a excel file in SP Online for which Co-authoring is enabled.

But very often the file gets locked that too with a particular user account.

The user (on whose name it displays as locked), he himself is not able to edit. But after sometime, it gets unlocked.

On googling, I found that this is a common issue many are facing with SP Online but couldn't find the root cause of the issue or how to fix it(unless the document unlocks itself).

Is it still the same? or there has been any progress on this issue with regards to the root cause and how to fix this permanently?

Answer 1

Per my knowledge, the issue still remains. I haven't heard there will be a permanent fix for it and users have post this requirement in uservoice.

There are some workarounds you can have a try with it. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/cannot-release-lock-on-sharepoint-online-file/m-p/59694

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/quot-error-the-file-is-locked-quot-when-using-office-online/m-p/227866

Answer 2

Try renaming the source file on Sharepoint then it should allow you to edit and save file.

Answer 3

Check for a perpetually open tab, or favorite saved with early loading. Might be falling into a session timeout misalignment, or a perpetually open state that survives in browser but not in the service