Excel Opening As Read Only

[propaintballa]

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

[Gregg2]

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.

[propaintballa]

Originally Posted by Gregg2

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.

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 :/

[Gregg2]

Originally Posted by propaintballa

Yes? Properties?

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.

[propaintballa]

Originally Posted by Gregg2

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.

Well that's funny…



And i'm not sure, I dragged it back to the same folder and it was fine, very odd

[Gregg2]

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?

[Mobster1983]

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.

[propaintballa]

Originally Posted by Gregg2

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?

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.

Originally Posted by Mobster1983

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.

Yep, I don't even have numbers installed :P

[Gregg2]

Originally Posted by propaintballa

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 :/

Ok, did you try replacing your Excel plist file?

[propaintballa]

Originally Posted by Gregg2

Ok, did you try replacing your Excel plist file?

Nope, as the problem has ceased, for now at least

[dianeoforegon]

You can get help from a Mac MVP here:

Answers -Office for Mac

Excel: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macexcel

[ttrent]

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)

[Kenneth Freq]

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".

[vitorneto]

Originally Posted by propaintballa

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

_______________________________________________

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

[alivne]

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!

[Iviking2]

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.

[adoc2b]

Originally Posted by ttrent

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)

_________________________________________________________________

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


_________________________________________________________________

[Agentfruit]

Originally Posted by ttrent

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.

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.