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File "Locked For Shared Use" by me - but it isn't

Sump, Bill 0 Reputation points
2025-10-16T13:34:48.6133333+00:00

I did see the other question posted Aug 2024 but the answer given was anything but helpful.

Aside from loading the folder in a web browser, the Msoft Teams app tells me the file is locked for shared use and the "by who" is me, and neither I, nor anyone else, has the file open.

Within the answer of the original post it stated, "generally, the error message happens when any of the files in the shared folder or in a SharePoint online document library is opened in the browser or the Office client while you are trying to modify the file/Folder." Which makes absolute zero sense that if someone has one of the dozens of other files in that folder open that you are unable to take ownership over a different file. That being said, why on earth would the error state that I have the particular file I want to check out open when I do not?

I have tried rebooting, clearing cache's you name it to try to get around this error... all to no avail. I have lost dozens of hours due to this issue.

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Files | Find and share files
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  1. Tina L 8,420 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-10-16T14:50:43.1233333+00:00

    Hello @Sump, Bill,  

    Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum! 

    For your situation, I truly appreciate your efforts to troubleshoot the issue and, I can see you’ve already tried most of the essential steps.    

    I’ve tried researching and testing this thoroughly in my own environment. However, it seems the issue may originate from the backend.  

    I understand you've already spent a significant amount of time on this, and I agree that it deserves to be resolved as soon as possible. So, if this is work account, I strongly recommend escalating the issue by raising the support ticket via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

    Note: If you are an end- user, you need to reach out to IT admin to follow this step.    

    • To create a Support ticket, the admin can go to: Microsoft 365 Admin Center.     
    • On right bottom corner click on "Help & support"      

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    • After that, please choose "Contact support".     

    User's image

    • In the description, you can use the following sample description:   

    "Hello,

    A user is experiencing an issue where a file stored in a shared folder or SharePoint Online document library appears as "locked for shared use" in Microsoft Teams. The system indicates that the file is locked by the user themselves, even though neither the user nor anyone else has the file open.

    We’ve tried several approaches, including rebooting, clearing caches but unfortunately, none of them worked to resolve the issue.

    We would like to reach out to the appropriate technical support team to investigate this further and help resolve the discrepancy.” 

    For reference: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 

    When the ticket is opened, a support engineer can start a remote session to investigate the issue, review the back-end settings, and optionally run a sync tool to resolve the issue.       

    Once again, thank you again for raising this issue; it’s helped broaden my understanding. I hope you understand that I want to help as much as I can within the scope of this forum.      

    I truly hope you’ll be assisted soon by our dedicated technical team. And if you receive any updates or insights, please feel free to reply here.   

    Note: If this is a personal account, please reply so I can guide you to the appropriate support team.

    Looking forward to hearing from you! 

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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