What does "locked for Shared Use" mean, exactly?

Anonymous
2018-01-25T16:34:28+00:00

I've got a file in a SharePoint library that I'm trying to move to a new folder in the same library. But no matter how I try to move it, I get a message that "this file is locked for shared use," by me. But I didn't do anything to lock the file.

How did it get locked, and more importantly, how do I unlock it? Properties, Details, and similar have been unhelpful, and the old turn it off and turn it on again didn't work either.

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-16T13:28:06+00:00

    FYI: I opened a ticket with Microsoft support over this issue expecting that it will be affecting us a lot next month during our busy season. Our users get tripped up a lot with this if they open from SharePoint into Word Online and then choose to Edit in Word.

    I was given some suggestions on ways to work with files that would prevent locking:

    1. Right click or select and choose open in Word (eliminate the step of opening in Word Online)
    2. Pin the folder location where the files are saved in SharePoint into the Word client. Open directly from the Word client.
    3. Check out the files to work with them, and then check them back in.

    We were also told that if a file has a lock that absolutely will not release, to download a copy of the file to work with it and then re-upload it when finished.

    Not a concrete solution, but some helpful tips from Microsoft. Maybe it will prevent a headache for one of you. Here's hoping they hear our loud and frequent complaining on this issue!

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-05-19T22:58:51+00:00

    Tough to get that message across to thousands of users plus it's not our responsibility. Best option is to submit a service request to substantiate a refund request. Money talks ....

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-20T22:40:44+00:00

    Thank you for sharing this Anne. I'll share with my team.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-06-19T12:09:34+00:00

    Even downloading a copy of the file and replacing it doesn't work. This is such a random behaviour.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-06-19T22:29:57+00:00

    Yes there's obviously a deeply ingrained bug in Msft's code - but they refuse to admit it.

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