Clear short term file lock in SharePoint 2013+

If a file is locked by a user who doesn't work on it anymore (he closed the file already more than 10 minutes ago) it can happen that the file is still locked.

Here a script to unlock the file:

	$web = get-spweb "https://domain/sitecollection/site"
	$list = $web.Lists["Documents"]
	$item = $list.Items.GetItemById(123)
	$item.File.ReleaseLock($item.File.LockId)
	$web.Dispose()

view raw SP_clearShortTermFileLock.ps1 hosted with ❤ by GitHub

If you get an error like:

Exception calling "ReleaseLock" with "1" argument(s): "The file filename.xlsx is locked for exclusive use by DOMAIN\user"

...then try next script to use impersonation. This happens when a user left the file open and nobody else is able to edit the file in his absence.

	$web = get-spweb "https://domain/sitecollection/site"
	$list = $web.Lists["Documents"]
	$item = $list.Items.GetItemById(123)
	$userId = $item.File.LockedByUser.ID
	$user = $web.AllUsers.GetById($userId)
	$impSite = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($web.Url, $user.UserToken);
	$impWeb = $impSite.OpenWeb();
	$impList = $impWeb.Lists[$list.Title];
	$impItem = $impList.GetItemById($item.ID);
	$impItem.File.ReleaseLock($impItem.File.LockId)
	$impWeb.Dispose()
	$impSite.Dispose()
	$web.Dispose()

view raw SP_clearShortTermFileLockImpersonation.ps1 hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Found those great and absolutetly useful scripts at Stackexchange where you get more informations about short term file lock.