Excel read only on server help.

Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by dougens, May 27, 2011.

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  1. dougens, May 27, 2011

    dougens macrumors member

    dougens

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2007
    Location:
    London
    #1
    Hello

    I access my work documents on the work server via VPN etc.
    I don't run Windows on my mac I just access the files on work server to read and write.

    Everything is fine apart from when I'm on the server at work on Windows machine and I'm opening a document (usually in exel) that someone else has open it states select "read only or notify." So I either open the file as read only or windows notifies me when the document is available for writing to and saving etc. This I do and it's fine.

    However, when I'm accessing similar documents from home on my mac with Office 2008 no such box appears. If someone has the document I'm trying to access open it just opens read only. If I open the document and someone else then opens the document it reverts to read only without notifying me.

    Can anyone help with this?

    Are there any settings in exel I can change to get said "notify" box to appear etc.

    Thanks for help
     
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  2. xUKHCx, May 27, 2011

    xUKHCx Administrator emeritus

    xUKHCx

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2006
    Location:
    The Kop
    #2
    To be honest I can't quite duplicate your setup so can't try it out.

    However this sounds like a limitation of excel rather than a setting. Is there any reason why you can't use a shared document so you can both edit it at the same time?

    There might be a preference setting on the originating windows machine but I don't remember seeing one. Unfortunately I don't have a windows machine at home to check.
     
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  3. dougens, Jun 24, 2011

    dougens thread starter macrumors member

    dougens

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2007
    Location:
    London
    #3
    thanks for reply

    i think it is to do with excel.

    however, everyone else at work who has pc's have no problems as when the file is open by someone else it says 3 options

    open read only
    notify when read write
    cancel

    this is what i want so i don't open the file - work on it - and it doesn't even state at the top in the title that its read only - and then try to save and it says it's read only, save copy etc.

    If I can't get his to work I will have to run boot camp or parallels?
    I don't know anything about these programs, can anyone advise?
    Or help with the excel problem?

    Thanks
     
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  4. Riverside, Jun 28, 2011

    Riverside macrumors member

    Riverside

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Don't let the Macrumors level fool you.
    #4
    dougens, are you opening Windows Excel files on Mac, editing them, then transferring back to Windows?

    I can't say for certain this is still true, but I used to work in a cross-platform department with Microsoft Office on both Macs and Windows, and discovered that although I could open Windows Excel files and edit them on Mac, once they went back to Windows, they were read only. I believe the same thing would happen the other way around to (from Mac to Windows and back).

    It has something to do with ownership I believe, but I can't remember for sure.

    Sorry, that isn't what you mean now that I looked a little closer, but I do think it's still a cross-platform issue. If the files reside on a windows server, and you're opening them in mac, but someone else opens the same file on windows, what's happening to you doesn't surprise me at all. You guys need network file management with a check in/out system (a good Asset Management system would do this). Nobody should be able to open a document that's already open. Period. It's just asking for trouble.
     
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