Excel "No permission to save files" error message

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Excel "No permission to save files" error message

A relation received the following error message when trying to save an Excel file under a new name:

"You do not have permission to save files to this location. Make sure that you have write access for this location, or select a different location"

This problem has come up previously in an archived question, and may well have to do with permissions in certain cicumstances. But in this case it had nothing whatever to do with permissions (I solved it), so I thought I would post it here, and then answer it for the benefit of others.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on May 22, 2024 8:25 AM

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Answer 1

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David Leader Author

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May 22, 2024 8:35 AM in response to David Leader

This problem can be caused by slashes in the chosen title.

Previously the user had files of this type recording observations at different times, and had in her filespace a file entitled "L/walk Butterflies 8/5/22". This had been generated on an older version of Mac Excel — she now has the latest version of 365 on Somona. The error message occurred:

If she/I opened a new file and tried to save it with the name "L/walk Butterflies x/x/24"
If she/I opened the file "L/walk Butterflies 8/5/22" and tried to save as "L/walk Butterflies 8/5/22 copy"

In one case the system offered a name separated by colons, which may work on OneDrive, but would not work in the Mac filespace.

Changing to names without slashes allowed local saving.

Moral: Error messages are generated by programmers and are sometimes completely inappropriate to the problem.

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Excel "No permission to save files" error message

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