Fix Word Throws ‘File in Use by Another User’ When Nobody Has It Open

You try to open a Word document on your own computer or a shared network drive, but Word displays the error “File in Use by Another User” even though no one else has the file open. This happens because Word or the operating system has not released the lock on the file after the previous editing session ended. The lock can persist due to a Word crash, a network interruption, or a corrupted Office File Validation cache. This article explains why the false lock occurs and provides four methods to remove the lock and reopen your document.

Why Word Reports a False “File in Use” Lock

When you open a document in Word, the application creates a hidden owner file in the same folder as the document. This owner file has a name that starts with a tilde (~) followed by a dollar sign ($), for example ~$Report.docx. The owner file tells Word and other users that the document is in use. When you close the document normally, Word deletes the owner file and releases the lock.

If Word crashes, your computer loses power, or the network connection drops while the document is open, the owner file may remain on disk. Word then reads the stale owner file the next time you try to open the document and incorrectly concludes that another user session still has the file open. The same false lock can occur when Office File Validation runs in the background on a file from a network location and does not release its handle quickly enough.

How the Owner File Creates a False Lock

The owner file is a hidden system file. Windows Explorer does not show it unless you enable “Show hidden files” in Folder Options. The file contains the name of the user who opened the document and the computer name. If the owner file remains after a crash, Word cannot tell that the original session is gone. It simply sees the file and blocks access.

Office File Validation and Network Timeouts

Office File Validation is a security feature that scans documents for potentially unsafe content before opening them. When the document is on a network share, the validation process can take several seconds. During that time, Word holds a temporary lock on the file. If the validation hangs or times out, the lock may persist even after you cancel the operation.

Steps to Remove the Stale File Lock

Perform the following methods in the order shown. Test whether you can open the document after each method before moving to the next one.

Method 1: Close Word Completely and Reopen

1. Close all Word windows
   Click the X on each open Word window. Do not simply minimize them.
2. End the Word process in Task Manager
   Press Ctrl+Shift+Escape to open Task Manager. On the Processes tab, look for Microsoft Word or WINWORD.EXE. Select it and click End Task. This ensures no background Word process still holds the lock.
3. Open Word without the document
   Launch Word from the Start menu. Do not double-click the document file. Wait 10 seconds.
4. Open the document from within Word
   In Word, click File > Open > Browse. Navigate to the document, select it, and click Open. If the error does not appear, the lock has been released.

Method 2: Delete the Hidden Owner File

1. Enable viewing of hidden files
   Open File Explorer. Click the View tab on the ribbon. In the Show/hide group, check the box labeled Hidden items.
2. Navigate to the folder containing your document
   Browse to the exact folder where the blocked document is stored.
3. Locate the owner file
   Look for a file that starts with ~$ followed by the document name. For example, if your document is named Report.docx, the owner file is named ~$Report.docx.
4. Delete the owner file
   Right-click the ~$ file and choose Delete. Confirm the deletion if prompted.
5. Open the document
   Double-click your original document file. Word should open it without the error.

Method 3: Turn Off Protected View for Network Files

1. Open Word Options
   Click File > Options.
2. Open Trust Center Settings
   In the Word Options dialog, click Trust Center on the left, then click the Trust Center Settings button.
3. Modify Protected View settings
   In the Trust Center dialog, click Protected View on the left. Uncheck the box for “Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.” Leave the other two boxes checked.
4. Apply the change
   Click OK to close the Trust Center dialog. Click OK to close Word Options.
5. Restart Word and open the document
   Close all Word windows, then reopen Word and the document. This prevents Office File Validation from locking the file during the scan.

Method 4: Restart the Print Spooler Service

1. Open Services
   Press Windows+R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Find the Print Spooler service
   Scroll down the list of services until you see Print Spooler. The Status column should show Running.
3. Restart the service
   Right-click Print Spooler and choose Restart. The service stops and starts again automatically.
4. Try opening the document again
   Close the Services window. Open Word and then open the document. A stalled print job that held a reference to the file is now cleared.

If Word Still Shows the Error After the Main Fix

Word Reports “File in Use” on a Document Stored in OneDrive or SharePoint

When the document is stored in the cloud, the lock may be held by another Office session on a different device. Sign out of Office on all devices, wait two minutes, and sign back in. On Windows, go to Settings > Accounts > Access work or school and disconnect the account, then reconnect it. This forces the cloud sync engine to release any stale locks.

Word Shows “File in Use” on a Document Opened From an Email Attachment

If you opened a document directly from Outlook, Word may have created a temporary copy in a protected temp folder. Close Outlook completely. In File Explorer, type %temp% in the address bar and press Enter. Sort the folder by Date modified and look for any file that matches your document name. Delete that file. Reopen the document from the saved location on your hard drive, not from the email.

Word Displays “File in Use” Every Time You Open Any Document

This indicates a corrupted Word Data registry key or a faulty add-in. Run Word in Safe Mode by pressing Windows+R, typing winword /safe, and pressing Enter. If the error stops, disable all add-ins: click File > Options > Add-ins, choose COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown, click Go, and uncheck all items. Restart Word normally. If the problem persists, reset the Word Data key: close Word, press Windows+R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\Data. Right-click the Data key and choose Rename. Type DataOld and press Enter. Restart Word, which creates a fresh Data key.

Lock Removal Methods Comparison

Item	Close Word and Reopen	Delete Owner File	Disable Protected View	Restart Print Spooler
What it clears	Orphaned lock in memory	Stale owner file on disk	Validation lock on network files	Lock from stalled print job
Time to perform	30 seconds	1 minute	2 minutes	2 minutes
Risk of data loss	None	None (owner file contains no document content)	None (slightly lowers security for network files)	None
Works on local files	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Works on network files	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

You can now remove a false “File in Use by Another User” error in Word by closing the process, deleting the owner file, or adjusting Protected View. Start with the quickest method: close Word and reopen it. If the error returns frequently on network files, permanently disable Protected View for potentially unsafe locations. For persistent locks across all documents, use the registry rename trick to reset the Word Data key without reinstalling Office.