Linked spreadsheet locks other files out

[John Taylor]

I have 3 individual excel files and want to create another
excel file that links to the other 3. For example,
Master.xls link john.xls,gary.xls and dale.xls. My problem
is when I open master.xls it locks the other 3 people out.
I found a setting under File Sharing/Options/Security that
said "Read Only reccommended." I set this option for the
three files I'm linking to. When I open Master.xls it
still locks the other 3 out. Does anyone know how to make
Master.xls view the other three with read only access so
that the files are not locked? If you could respond by
Email I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance for your
help.

John

 

[Guest]

I forgot some addition information. When the master.xls
file is open and one of the 3 other people trys to open
their individual spreadsheet they get an error. For
example, if master.xls is open and someone trys to open
john.xls the following error will occur:

"A Document with the name John.xls is already open. You
cannot open two documents with the same name even if they
are in different folders........."