
Then, I can use the following command to terminate the process to release the handle. Then, I can see it’s AcroRd32.exe with pid 9328 that is holding off my file. For example, I can use the following command to find out which applications are currently running to access my Desktop. Handle requires a local admin to run so you will need to open Command Prompt as Administrator first and run it inside.įirst, if you don’t know which handle that holds off your file, use the name switch to find out all handles and their IDs. And you can terminate the specified handle to release the locked file. You can use it to see the programs that have a file open. Interestingly, Sysinternals also has a tiny command line tool called Handle that displays information about all or specific open handles for any process in the system. I am always quite happy with the output from this extremely tiny but effective tool.

#My excel file is locked for editing by me free
Among many of them out there, Unlocker is one that is free and portable, and that I have been using for years. If that’s the case, it’s time to call up a help for the 3rd party tool. However, in a lot of cases, you might not have idea of which application you should be looking or the file still remains in locked even after you manually terminated the application described above. If so, manually killing it in Task Manager would release the lock handle so that you will be able to deal with the file again. If you know the name of the application that had been used to open the file before, you may want to check the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to see if the application that you had closed is still alive in the Processes tab. Sometimes I called these locked files in mystery because often times you found there is just no reason for them to be in the locked mode and you certainly don’t see any running applications that were holding them off. To unlock a file locked by an application

After that, you will be able to deal with the file that was locked before. Then on the right side panel, find the file that is opened by a remote user, right-click on it and choose Close.Ĥ. Expand Shared Folders, and click on Open Files at the left hand panel in Computer Management.ģ.
#My excel file is locked for editing by me windows
On Windows 8, you can right-click the Start button to bring up the Power Menu and launch Computer Management straight from there.Ģ. Open Computer Management, by right-clicking My Computer icon and choosing Manage. Note that if your computer doesn’t have a shared folder that is accessible to the remote user, you won’t be able to unlock a file by this method.ġ. And another, the file may be opened and locked by an application that is still actively alive in the background even though it’s been closed by the user. For one, the file might be opened by another user on the same network because the file is part of the shared folder on your computer.

There are a few reasons why your file may have been caught in locked position.

You often ended up closing all your opened applications and rebooting your computer to clean up the locked handles so that you can deal with these files. Locked files are annoying, especially those locked in mystery as to no reason why they are locked and what has been holding them off.
