How add apps to full disk access? Nothing happens when I click on the plus sign.

Are you running from an admin account?

Where are you trying to save the files? What are the permissions for these folders?

It should not be necessary to grant Full Disk Access for saving in your own local folders, like Documents or Desktop (though if granted, of course, it would also allow you to save there).

wsm1234 wrote:

Unable to create or save new office docs (word, excel, powerpoint) on OS 15.5 on new MacBook Air. Possibly a permissions issue with OneDrive, but I can't add full disk access to any apps or add them to 'files and folders' - I click on the plus sign, enter my password but nothing happens. Have tried reinstalling Office 365, deleting preferences etc.

etc.?

You definitely don't, and should never, try to give app's Full Disk Access because of some permissions problem. What ever your problem originally was, you've made it much, much worse.

You'll need to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Make sure you have a good Time Machine backup. I recommend only restoring your user accounts and user files. Do not restore any software, apps, system settings, or "other files".

Full Disk Access is irrelevant when you are trying to save to your desktop.

I am thinking that the issue is probably related to dropbox.

Can you save to your home folder or to a different folder - e.g. make a new folder "Stuff" inside your home folder, and try to save there. Does it work?

Also: in your home folder, select the Desktop folder (do not open it) and press Command-I.

What do you see? It should be something like this:

wsm1234 wrote:

You haven't read my post correctly

Clearly, I did. I made a point to ask about the mysterious "etc".

I haven't been able to give any app full disk access so haven't made anything worse.

But the more important question is what else you've done. You should be able to give an app Full Disk Access. If you can't, that's a serious misconfiguration problem. This doesn't normally happen. It can only happen if you've run hack software or tried to follow internet suggestions to "fix" (i.e. create) problems.

It's clearly a permissions issue of some kind.

It sounds like the original problem was that your Office software wasn't activated and was running in read-only mode. That's easy enough to solve, or it would be. The ill-advised recommendations provided by your "IT specialist" have corrupted your system.

While you may be able to activate Office and be able to save, you may have various other bugs and problems for years to come. If that happens, you'll need to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Unfortunately, most backup systems are designed for restoring data. If your data is corrupt, then you don't want to restore it. Should an erase and reinstall prove necessary, you will need to manually copy only your documents from backup. Don't attempt to copy any user accounts or any "Library" folders.

wsm1234 wrote:

There was nothing sinister about the etc - I just put onedrive on hold and checked various settings. The Office software was activated rather than read-only and I've been using it without a problem for weeks on the same computer. I can save documents without a problem within OneDrive, just not on this computer.

Maybe take a step back and review exactly what is, and is not, happening.

You said, and I quote, "Unable to create or save new office docs". That's an unambiguous statement.

Now, you've added ambiguity. You actually can "save documents without a problem". You're just limited to OneDrive. This is one of the most common complaints about recent versions of Office. It's so common that I still have this meme in my downloads folder from when I used it a few days ago:

But if you want to get something more than funny memes, you are going to have to provide more details. I strongly recommend a step-by-step description of the procedure you are following to save a file. Do not skip any steps. Do not even skip the most mundane, irrelevant step. Describe everything. Describe what you see on the computer screen. Describe what you would have preferred to see instead. Describe how those two views differ. Maybe include some screenshots?