Working with excel in Sharepoint desktop app

[IanH1]

• Can anyone help with this? My team is using SharePoint. Sometimes when a user closes an EXCEL file they open in Desktop APP and try to log back in the same file again they are getting error that the file is already open on their computer. The look in the TASK list on computer the file is not open. The only way to get back in the file is to reboot their computer. Is their a fix for this?

[#2]

Hey @IanH1 , I think you have to teach your staff the things about check in and check out and versioning of files in SharePoint. Word, Excel and PowerPoint are online apps in office 365 that have a connection to each desktop app. Every time you online click on the link and on that file in a library you activate the online app behind. And you can open this checked in file only in the edit mode, normally it is not checked out automatically but in my library i set it to "request check out" in the options. So i can open it in edit mode and when its opened it with click on "open it in Desktop App", Excel Desktop App opens up additionally. Then I say YES to the edit mode in the dialogue. Afterwards it is checked out for me on my desktop. Most users do not see that desktop app ICON on their task bar, so they wonder, where Excel is working and if..., but their desktop window is only BEHIND the SharePoint Browser window. Please tell them. 

Then it is easy to do your editings in Excel desktop app and please check in again your excel file with FILE - informations - Check in ("Einchecken" in german).

Finally you can control the version history of your checked in File in the SP online library. Attached you can find a small tutorial from me about versioning, App windows and what is online or desktop app when and where  and why... ;)

All the best, Eva.

[#3]

Make sure they have later versions of office installed and that auto save is turned on. Utilizing auto save allows coauthoring and multiple people to open documents and this usually will help stop that issue. Otherwise excel will lock the files while in use and could cause the issue you are experiencing.

If that isn’t an option syncing the files with onedrive from the SharePoint library could improve this.