Error message: The file couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it.

Question

Level 1

12 points

Error message: The file couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it.

My wife has OneDrive syncing files to her MacBook Air M1 Sonoma 14.5

Just yesterday for the first time, if she opens any image file (say xyz.png) (using Preview) from one of the OneDrive folders and then restarts her laptop, after she logs back in a system error message pops up stating:

The file “xyz.png” couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it.

(see screenshot attached).

I’ve checked permissions on the file and her account has read & write. Happens with any image file type opened using Preview.

If I do the same thing but with the file saved locally to her desktop, there is no problem.

I have stopped and restarted OneDrive and resynced all the files but the problem persists.

Any ideas on how to fix this as we’re at a loss as to what to do?

MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

Posted on Jun 16, 2024 1:57 PM

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Answer 1

tomi128 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 17, 2024 3:56 AM in response to AlWeir

Hi. Yes we can open it in Photos with no error. And even after leaving it open in Photos and restarting the MacBook there is no error.

As I said before, we have no problem opening an image file using Preview. It’s just we get the error after we leave it open in Preview and restart the MacBook.

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Answer 2

AlWeir

Level 5

4,886 points

Jun 16, 2024 6:00 PM in response to tomi128

Can you open it in any other app without getting the permission warning? Try loading it into Photos and see what happens.

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

102,301 points

Jun 17, 2024 2:17 AM in response to tomi128

tomi128 wrote:

Thanks AlWeir, but our problem is NOT that we are unable to open the file. It opens perfectly well. It is when when we open the image and leave it open (in Preview), restart the MacBook Air, the message pops up. If we close the error message, we can open the image again without any problem.

Then stop Restarting the computer when Preview is hanging with the image file located on MS One Drive.

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Answer 4

Owl-53

Level 10

102,301 points

Jun 17, 2024 4:10 AM in response to tomi128

tomi128 wrote:

Hi. Yes we can open it in Photos with no error. And even after leaving it open in Photos and restarting the MacBook there is no error.

As I said before, we have no problem opening an image file using Preview. It’s just we get the error after we leave it open in Preview and restart the MacBook.

Of course the image will open in Photos

Photos is not using Microsoft Windows One Drive as the Source of the image

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Answer 5

tomi128 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 16, 2024 5:47 PM in response to AlWeir

Thanks AlWeir, but our problem is NOT that we are unable to open the file. It opens perfectly well. It is when when we open the image and leave it open (in Preview), restart the MacBook Air, the message pops up. If we close the error message, we can open the image again without any problem.

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Answer 6

AlWeir

Level 5

4,886 points

Jun 16, 2024 5:27 PM in response to tomi128

https://macmanus.nl/2020/07/18/fixed-the-file-couldnt-be-opened-because-you-dont-have-permission-to-view-it-error-in-preview-app-jpg-file/

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