Cannot Release Lock on SharePoint Online File

Brent Ellis 

I have the same problem. In my case, it happens whenever I try to open a sharepoint file in excel, and excel always replies with a message saying the "the file is corrupt and cannot be opened" (translated). But this is not necessarily the problem.

What I found: The mechanism seems to work by IP. So, if I work on my notebook using Wifi and then open the document in the browser excel, and then I dock to my workplace and have another network, I can't release the lock anymore that comes from the wifi. Even worse: if I opened it from my homeoffice place, I cannot release that lock anymore from my office workplace...

So, the workaround for me (case 1) is to temporarily undock my device, then close the online excel browser tab, and then dock my device again.

Brent Ellis I couldn't find any way to do it through SharePoint directly.  However I did find a way to use PowerShell to release the lock.  The command is ReleaseLock

as in... 

$item.File.ReleaseLock($item.File.LockId)

I wrote about it here...

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/cannot-release-lock-on-sharepoint-online-file/m-p/59694

I also had this issue. Here are the steps that worked:

1. open file in browser-> edit and save
2. open file in desktop app ->upload failed error 
3. go to file->manage->checkout->edit now possible

Brent Ellis 

K so I had a similar situation where I wanted to rename a word doc and I kept getting an error that the file was locked by my own user account. I was not able to delete the document for the same reason.

I logged off and back on thinking that would clear... it never.

I finally opened the word doc on line then chose the open via desktop option. From there I did a "save as" and changed the name and re-saved it to the same SharePoint site.

At that point I was then I was allowed to delete the old file.

Not sure why this worked but it did.

Hope this helps someone else.

I've just had the same problem Brent Ellis but in a Modern Experience Library and none of the answers of this thread helped a bit. Anyway I've managed to "move" the item to my OneDrive using the new-ribbon option. That worked and allowed me to finally delete the document.

Probably not an solution for other use cases but it worked for me. I hope this helps to some other SharePointers. ;-)

SharePoint Online, had this issue with a word file with "abc" written in it. Because I had locked it I could not edit the file in word online, edit the properties in Sharepoint online or delete it. And I had no idea where to deactivate the "Lock".

I found the solution for my case in this thread somewhere- Open it in word local on PC and there i could edit the files.

Cause of the issue:  I was testing some list features with a lot of basically empty word files in it. And I might have had word online open in that word document when I added another column to the list that was mandatory to be filled out..

But I'm not 100% sure on this because I'm old and some times I set of to do something just to end up looking into the fridge realizing I'm not hungry I struggle to remember what I was supposed to do..   

For one library and group of users, we have configured it to open files in their native app. Therefore, the Word Online is bypassed directly for the Word App. These users don't appear to have the File Lock issue anymore.

Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone else have a Library whereby the default is set to "Open in Client Application" and doesn't have the issue with docs in that Library?

My guess is that previously the Word doc opened in online mode, then they clicked "Edit in Word" and so it's opened in two places. They'd edit in Word, but something may have occurred (a cursor move, etc) whereby the Online version of the same doc was 'edited' too - and that this *duopoly* is what causes the issue.

It's my assumption that this is what causes the File Lock issue and what needs to be focused on.

I particularly love this error combination.

Excel says I'm the only one here, but I can't make changes since I'm not alone...

try this,

Open the file in office client in read only mode. As soon as it opened in the office client, then check it out.