Hi, I'm lost on what to do with this one. We have an Excel file on our network shared drive that is accessed by different people from different offices. Two offices connect remotely.
We tested the file last week and everything was working as it should so when a user had the file open Excel would notify us with the 'file is locked for editing by' message and so on. However, today we have opened the file from the shared drive and the Excel file will only open as 'Read Only'. I have checked on the server and the file isn't open by anyone else but yet we still cannot edit unless we save as a new file. I've checked all the check boxes for Read only and they aren't checked, not too sure where to go. Any help appreciated. Thanks Krystal.
Go to the server that the file is hosted on, open up command prompt and type in ' openfiles' without the quotations of course. This'll give you a full list of files open on that server. Here is a screen cap of what you may see (all my file names, and user names are blocked out along with my domain info, sorry buddy). Once you fine the problem file type ' openfiles /disconnect /ID ID#' where the ID# is the file you're having a problem with.
This happened last week for me as heads up, a users computer crashed and somehow didn't close a file and it remained connected after a reboot, had to do this to close 15 open PDF's that wouldn't close. Chad 2420 & RAM. I had tried both ways you mentioned to search see if the file is open and it is not open. Christina4185 - Hi, yes remote users open it within Excel 2003 and the creator opens it in Excel 2010 (forgot to mention this) CookieG - nothing permission/security wise has changed since last week when it was working fine. Matthew5942 - We did this last time with the original file as that started opening as read only so we saved as a new file even named it NEW and this has now got the same read only on open issue Bryce Katz - I saw this one and we don't have it set up on the computers to preview file when selected Thanks.
Krystal - if the file isn't accessed by too many people, I'd say to check to make sure no one has the preview pane enabled (unless you have it blocked by policy). We don't set that up here either, but a few of our users figured out how to change the view settings to show the preview pane. We get this issue every here and there and the only thing that fixes it is a reboot of our file server. It's a pain in the butt to do during the day, so we usually just tell our people to save the file as a new copy, then after I reboot the file server I can remove the old one. Krystal wrote: I have just tried opening it via remote desktop logging in as the last user that modified the document and it opens fine and I can save changes but when I try open it from my computer it is still saying read only. Does this help anyone?Almost helps.
If you hook up an external monitor to your Mac OS X machine and run Excel 2004 for Mac on it, you might move your toolbars completely or partially over to the second desktop area. If you then remove the external monitor, it is possible for the toolbars to get “stuck” such that only a corner (like the. Awaiting your command. Turn off suggestions. Opening an Excel-sheet results in an error message saying the file is opened as read-only. I would kindly ask you to right-click on your (.xls) or (.xlsx) file and check if the same is marked as read-only. If you are running Linux/Mac OS, please do the following.
Which Excel worked and what is on your desktop? I may have the answer. Well, I previously removed my comment, so here is the solution: Are you using Compatibility pack' for the Excel 2003 users? The issue is that the spreadsheet is using enhanced features, such as conditional formatting, or other feature that 2003/Compatibility cannot handle so it is opened as read-only in order to protect the integrity of the workbook.
Information moves quickly with modern technology. With a single email, a colleague can share a complicated Excel worksheet for you to customize as needed.
There is one problem: That file is locked as “read-only.” You can unlock this quickly within the program, without even needing super-spy powers. Unlocking Made Simple The key to unlock an Excel 2011 or 2016 worksheet is in the File menu of the Finder feature on your computer. Get out of the Excel program, closing the worksheet. Go to the Finder menu box; this is not in Excel but rather is the main finder in your computer's C-drive where you search for saved files. Search for the named Excel worksheet in question. Select it, then under 'File,' select 'Get Info.'
Note that on some versions of Excel, this is also accomplished with a right-click on the filename. At the top under the General tab will be a box checked if the worksheet is locked. Uncheck this to unlock it. Once it is unlocked, reopen the file in Excel to work on it. Excel 2010 and 2013 also use a 'Protected View' banner that prevents editing unless you click the 'Enable Editing' button on the right side of the banner. Once you click this, you are able to edit the Excel document.
![Turn Turn](https://cdn1.tekrevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130601_excelmac_hidecells_7.jpg)
If the file doesn't unlock, you might not have permission to unlock it. If this is the case, you need to request permission from the original sender. Sharing and Permissions Now that you can edit and manipulate the data in the worksheet, you might want to share it with your team or colleagues. But you also might not want them to change data, using it for review only. You can lock the file from your end. In the same tab you used to unlock the file, check the box to lock it. This does, however, prevent you from being able to change anything else.
You can instead lock it through sharing and permissions located at the bottom of the Get Info box. It will list your name, your staff and everyone else who has access to this file. Each name listed has a drop-down privilege to either “read only” or “read & write.” Make sure you have read and write permission, but give everyone else read-only. Difference Between Locked and Read-Only The two ways to lock and unlock the worksheet can be confusing. If you can unlock a file, can't your team unlock it as well? Yes, if the privileges they are given say they can read and write.
Only owners, creators and those given these permissions are able to unlock the file. It is possible, therefore, that you receive a file as locked and even checking the box doesn’t unlock it. The reason is you probably don't have permission to read and write.
You would need to ask the original file creator to resend it after updating your permissions. Once that's done, you can manipulate and change the information.