Are you on a network, or is this just a local computer? Are there any
macros that might be opening the file in the background and not shutting down
the Excel session?

If it's on a network you could make the workbook a shared workbook, which
would allow multiple copies to open. If you're not a network the next time
that occurs I would do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and open the TASK MANAGER. Click the
PROCESSES tab if necessary and peruse the list of running applications and
make sure that Excel isn't open in the background on your system. You can
select a running instance and click the END PROCESS command button to close
the session. Make sure that you've saved all the work in your visible
session before proceeding though.
--
Kevin Backmann
Dallas, TX


"widman" wrote:

I have a couple of excel workbooks that have decided (for a couple of months)
to tell me that they are in use and I can only open a "read only" version.
They are not in use. Sometimes restarting my computer releases them, but that
shouldn't be necessary.

Windows Vista with Excel 2003 service pack 3