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Excel Signatures Causing Disrupt in Update Table automation

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Posted on by DLOWE

Good afternoon,

I have come across an issue where I have excel documents that exist in a Document Library have their SharePoint properties updated to a table within the file, but the issue only occurs with files that contain a signature field. The issue I'm experiencing is when the update table automation runs, I get this message:

Action 'Update_a_row' failed: Graph API is unable to acquire or refresh a lock on the file because it is already locked. Please close edit sessions and try again.

This error will not occur when I remove the signature box. Is there any information on the effects the signature box has on power automate and updating tables in excel?

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David_MA 12,966 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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I assume you are referring to this when you say you added a signature: Add or remove a digital signature for Microsoft 365 files - Microsoft Support. If so, the error you get would make sense. When you add a signature to the Excel file, the file becomes read only, which is why you are getting the file is locked message. You would need to remove the signature, like you said you did, for the error to go away. Modifying the spreadsheet would invalidate any signatures that had already been applied, which is why it gets set to read only.

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DLOWE 2 on at

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Would the issue remain the same if the Signature block is blank? So, by just adding the signature block itself puts the file in a state of read-only?

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David_MA 12,966 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Re: Would the issue remain the same if the Signature block is blank? I am not sure about Excel, I have only used this in Word and in Word the file is not locked until someone signs it. Excel does have its own quirks, but one would think it would work the same way.

You may want to review this: How do I make a signature so editing is still allowed or (if it can't - Microsoft Community.

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