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Excel Opening As Read Only

P

propaintballa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2010
19
0
UK
Hi guys, for some reason when I can make a spreadsheet, save it (XLSX) without the read only option ticked but when I re open it it opens as Read Only and wants me to save the changes as a new file :/

If I go to the spreadsheet properties whilst it's open, the Read Only box is ticked and greyed out so I can't change it!? Any one got any ideas on this?

OS: Lion 10.7.2
Office 2011
 
Properties?

In the Get Info window for such a file, click the padlock to unlock it, enter your password, change the permissions, click the padlock to lock it.
 
Gregg2 said:
Properties?

In the Get Info window for such a file, click the padlock to unlock it, enter your password, change the permissions, click the padlock to lock it.
Click to expand...

Yes? Properties?

And I have done, still opens as Read Only :/ Confuseddddd

Ok EDIT: So I thought i'd try save it to a different place, did it straight to the desktop and it's fine :/
 
Last edited:
Gregg2 said:
Mac files don't have "properties". Windows files do.

Mac files have "Info", thus you click on Get Info.

Anyway, glad it cleared up on the Desktop. Now, what's wrong with the folder the file was in? Check out its Info window for clues.
Click to expand...

Well that's funny… ;)

ScreenShot2011-11-28at082609-1.png


And i'm not sure, I dragged it back to the same folder and it was fine, very odd
 
Last edited:
Hmm. That's interesting. I was thinking (and writing) in terms of the file (or its icon) in a Finder window, not a menu option with the file open. So I had to open one and try it. Properties seems pretty useless to me. For the file that I opened, both Read Only and Hidden are not selectable. When I do as I suggested to you, for the same file from Finder, in the Get Info window I can change the Read Only to Read and Write. That's the Mac way, not the Microsoft way. So, did you try that route?
 
Are you sure you are opening your Excel files in Excel and not Numbers? If you have Numbers as your default program, it will ask you to save as becauses you can only export to .xls format.
 
Gregg2 said:
Hmm. That's interesting. I was thinking (and writing) in terms of the file (or its icon) in a Finder window, not a menu option with the file open. So I had to open one and try it. Properties seems pretty useless to me. For the file that I opened, both Read Only and Hidden are not selectable. When I do as I suggested to you, for the same file from Finder, in the Get Info window I can change the Read Only to Read and Write. That's the Mac way, not the Microsoft way. So, did you try that route?
Click to expand...

Lol stop talking to me like i've just come over from Windows?! I tried changing the permissions on the Info when you first said about it and it didn't make a difference :/

I guess we'll just have to wait until it does it again for amazingly weird reason, silly thing.

Mobster1983 said:
Are you sure you are opening your Excel files in Excel and not Numbers? If you have Numbers as your default program, it will ask you to save as becauses you can only export to .xls format.
Click to expand...

Yep, I don't even have numbers installed :p
 
Excel file opening in Read Only Mode

I had this problem today, and finally figured out the solution. I had put a slash "/" in the filename, which is OK on the Mac, but Excel does NOT like it. When I removed the slash from the filename (using the finder), the Excel file then opened normally. I often use slashes when adding the date as part of the filename. When working on an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file, I have to remember to use dashes, not slashes. In this case, my filename included the phrase "64/128 bit register". I changed it to "64 or 128 bit register".

Hope this helps someone. I wasted a lot of time on it.

MacBook Pro (Early 2011) running OS 10.8 Mountain Lion
Office for Mac 2011 vers 14.2.3 (120616)
 
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Reactions: mrboult, jeescobarc, mgts24 and 3 others
Take out slash in file name worked for me

Worked for me, thanks!

had put a slash "/" in the filename, which is OK on the Mac, but Excel does NOT like it. When I removed the slash from the filename (using the finder), the Excel file then opened normally. I often use slashes when adding the date as part of the filename. When working on an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file, I have to remember to use dashes, not slashes. In this case, my filename included the phrase "64/128 bit register". I changed it to "64 or 128 bit register".
 
who would thought slash against dash

propaintballa said:
Hi guys, for some reason when I can make a spreadsheet, save it (XLSX) without the read only option ticked but when I re open it it opens as Read Only and wants me to save the changes as a new file :/

If I go to the spreadsheet properties whilst it's open, the Read Only box is ticked and greyed out so I can't change it!? Any one got any ideas on this?

OS: Lion 10.7.2
Office 2011
Click to expand...

_______________________________________________

hi there

well i have been having this issues with some of the users getting this read only problem.

So here it goes, microsoft needs to improve there coding!!

in my case and i say this it might not work for all of you, (well i hope it does) the users always were using the slash ie, myfile_from_20/09/2012.xlsx.

the solution that worked for me was to remove the slash and put a dash. now when they open it, it is no longer read only.

i really hope this helps!, its people like you and me that make the problem solving a bit easier!

So as someone once said.......

THINK DIFFERENT! AMEN
 
So that was the problem

This problem was driving me nuts!
And who would have thought...I indeed used a slash in my filename.

This was one useful thread.
Thank you!:D
 
Not the solution

I think this solution must be an accidental solve (i.e not the real fix)
I've had this problem with a few files which now cannot be accessed from another machine because it thinks someone else is currently modifying it. I've removed all non alphabet characters (/ - _ ) and the problem remains. 10.6.8 machine trying to access a .xls file stored on a 10.8.2 iMac.
I've checked permissions are ok.
Only workround is to save as a new file on the client machine, but as it's a file a number of us work on it's not a viable solution.
 
ttrent said:
I had this problem today, and finally figured out the solution. I had put a slash "/" in the filename, which is OK on the Mac, but Excel does NOT like it. When I removed the slash from the filename (using the finder), the Excel file then opened normally. I often use slashes when adding the date as part of the filename. When working on an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file, I have to remember to use dashes, not slashes. In this case, my filename included the phrase "64/128 bit register". I changed it to "64 or 128 bit register".

Hope this helps someone. I wasted a lot of time on it.

MacBook Pro (Early 2011) running OS 10.8 Mountain Lion
Office for Mac 2011 vers 14.2.3 (120616)
Click to expand...


_________________________________________________________________

This was totally a fix for me... whew!!!! thanks!!!!


_________________________________________________________________
 
ttrent said:
I had this problem today, and finally figured out the solution. I had put a slash "/" in the filename, which is OK on the Mac, but Excel does NOT like it. When I removed the slash from the filename (using the finder), the Excel file then opened normally.
Click to expand...

Thank you thank you thank you! Why didn't I think of this...Word won't save a doc with a slash in it but Excel sneakily saves it and then won't let you write in it again. It's been driving me NUTS. I'd tried everything...or so I thought.
 
Elusive fix

Mac only computers. Problem same as descriptions above, occurs on files transferred between work and home on a USB stick formatted for PCs when bought, reformatted for Mac with Disk Utility. No problem for years, hundreds of files with NAMEdd-mm-yy.xlsx name format, then recently one out of 10 or 20 will say it it's Read Only when opened at the location away from where it was created.

Changing status with Info window has no effect. Removing the dashes from file name fixes it but you can't reinsert them without getting the Read Only status again.

Noting a post above where saving a problem file to desktop fixed it, I copied it there from the USB stick and it opened fully functional.

So I inserted "Test" at the front of the name on the desktop copy and dragged it back on the USB. Worked fine. Put "Original" at the front of the problem file name still on the USB and it worked from there. Took "Test" off the good copied file on the USB so that it had the original name and the problem came back. Took "Original" off the name of initial bad file on the USB and it was bad again.

Something in my computer still recognizes that specific file name as Read Only. Something was done on the creating computer that tagged it Read Only, though it still works there, and that tag is now on the receiving computer for that file name only, not the hundreds of others just like it (same format, same prefix to the dashed dates).

Meanwhile the files on either side of it that do still have dashes work fine. I will eliminate the dashes on the problem files only and see how it goes, sure would be nice to find the root of this problem. A Google search shows that it's widespread and has been around for a while. This is what I love about Microsoft. Well, one of many things. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
I also had this problem. It turned out there was hidden file in the same folder with the same name as the spreadsheet, but starting with "~$". I used the app UnHidden to see it.

Deleting the ~$ file solved the problem.
 
overcoming excel files opening as read only

Correcting this problem may be simply removing a / from the file name.

In working on a number of excel files, I started using the / as part of the file name. Excel used to prevent using that character in a file name, but my most recent version (Mac Office 2011) did not. And/or it may be some interaction with the 2011 version and the new Mavericks OS. Regardless, I could include the / in a file name., and not be prevented from doing so by Excell

However, it did created the read only status when I did next open the file saved under a new name (e.g., "old file name" rev.xlsx.

Just by chance I tried simplifying the file name. In removing the / it took care of the opening as "read only" problem.

As an experiment, I added the / to an existing file name and it opened as read only.

The &, $ and ? do not cause the problem.

The problem caused by the / may have something to do with the / being a divider used in the path name.

Hoping this helps you solve your Read only problem.
 
For me the problem was bt different and simple...I did some testing and concluded that Excel for Mac 2011 could not open password protected Excel for Windows password protected *.xlsx files but, strange enough, Excel for Mac 2011 could open password protected Excel for Windows password protected filed stored in the oder *.xls format.

So, as it is not a big issue for me, I will be using the *.xls format until Office for Mac 2014 / 2015 comes out.

Hope this helps someone else.

Joel
 
excel read only issue

It worked for me. Excel indeed doesnt like the ( / ). This immediately removed the read only and allowed me to save.


Kenneth Freq said:
had put a slash "/" in the filename, which is OK on the Mac, but Excel does NOT like it. When I removed the slash from the filename (using the finder), the Excel file then opened normally. I often use slashes when adding the date as part of the filename. When working on an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file, I have to remember to use dashes, not slashes. In this case, my filename included the phrase "64/128 bit register". I changed it to "64 or 128 bit register".
Click to expand...
 
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