Excel now "read only"

This was exactly the problem for me....and I had a "/" in the file name. Not too much of a problem for Macs but I Re-saved the file with no "Windows illegal characters" and it is opening correctly, like all the other files.....thanks of this tip, Much appreciated.

You can remove the "/" without having saving the file in a new name. Just go through the Finder and locate the folder where the file is and remove the "/" and replace with a period "." I just did this and everything is good-to-go. No more "Read Only"

Hi, I believe if you save the file to a different name (only a 1-letter change will do this) you should be able to use normally.

I am having a very similar problem. Running Lion 10.7.2 and every Excel file I open will open as Read-Only. It will let me save by changing the name, but it won't let me save and replace. When I open the new file name it also opens as Read-Only. This is sending me a clear message, learn how to use Numbers much better.

I had the same problem.

To fix it go into the "General" system preferences pane and uncheck "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps".

Unfortunately I don't think this fixes files which have already been affected by the "Read only" problem - they contnue to open as read only - but any files you haven't opened recently and any newly saved files seem OK.

Sorry guys - posted the wrong solution.

The problem with files opening "Read Only" is caused by using a filename that would be invalid in Windows. My file had a "/" in the name and would only open read only. If I remove the "/" evereything is OK.

Unfortunately the test I did after trying the "restore windows ..." fix led me to the wrong conclusion - sorry for that.

Anyhow, remove those "Windows illegal" characters from your filename and I think all will be well.

I had the same problem and as soon as I removed the / from the file name all my "read only" problems were solved.

Thanks so much JH117. That problem has been driving me crazy. Finally resolved.🙂

Hi!

Thank you very much JH117 for the above solution to the problem as outlined on the original post. You have really got me out of a spot. Could somebody now please help with the following related issue?

When I save the document, however, the XLSX icon is in landscape orientation with the word NAME in bold red capitals at the centre whereas the original was in portrait with a green band along the top containing the Excel logo and at bottom left was a ptotruding cartouche containing XLSX in green capitals. Is this a cause for concern? I noticed that when I drag the 'new style' icon off the desktop to put it into a file, it reverts temporarily to the original style with a green plus sign, but when I unclick, it returns to landscape.

Regards,

DG.

While the above answer MIGHT be one problem - the solution is related to the computer name. In moving the data to my new machine, the OS created a new name for the new machine. The old computer had my last name "goeckner" ... and the new one was my last name with (2)... "goeckner (2)" As soon as I changed the computer name to match the old name, the files all openned as they should.

I THINK that MS office is looking at the computer name - and deciding that it should be read only because the file is not on the "correct" computer. This has advantages if one wants to share/jointly edit files. (Likely what MS wants you to able to do.) Here it does not work correctly.

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For the record the computer name is done so that the IT people know who is sitting on our network.... If it were left up to me, I might call it "flaming death star".

I had the same issue after I got a new laptop with 10.8. I believe this is caused by having the restore windows options selected and having a new computer with a new hostname. I was able to navigate to the directory and remove the file starting with ~. This resolved the document from opening in read-only all the time

JH117, you should specify that users need to go to Apple>Preferences to make that change. I spent 30 minutes trying to find the setting in the Excel Preferences!

I am working on a Mac Pro using Lion OSX. I have an Excel file that I created and saved to my harddrive over a year ago. I add infor to this spreadsheed occasionally. Today I opened it, made changes, then tried to save it only to get a message telling me it was Read Only. Now, it has never been Read Only, and when I checked Get Info the file is categorized as Read and Write.

I finally saved the file by adding another charcter to the file name and deleting the original.

I still want to know WHY this has happened without any alteration on my part.

Removing "/" from filename fixed it for me too.

Hi,

I had the same issue today and a non-read-only file is copied and worked on. When I changed the name it then went to read-only.

The solution for me was to create the copy then rename it only a few charachters at a time i.e. first rename read "No.1" then the second was "No.1 WE 16" and so forth until I got the name I wanted and at each change I opened the file to check the status (that appears in excel at the top with the file name).

Not a good solution but it worked.

Good luck.