Grant Access request in Finder

Question

Grant Access request in Finder

Hi Everyone,

I have been experiencing a problem accessing Excel (xls & xlsx) files.

I recently experienced a major computer failure with my MBP and have managed to retrieve files from the hard disk but all filenames were lost so I need to open files to re-assign them correct/meaningful filenames. However when I try to open files I get the following window appear:

Then when I click on "Grant Access" I get the following window appear:

Is this problems something I can fix in OS X or is it a problem with Excel?

I am using El Capitan and have two versions of Excel available (14.6.0 & 15.18).

Any suggestions or guidance would be very welcome.

Regards,

Graham

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 21, 2016 4:00 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

cdhw

Level 4

3,588 points

Feb 22, 2016 5:01 AM in response to grahamfromdee why

This is not good. Check the ownership and permissions of the recovered files.

If this is okay, then the most likely scenario is that the 'recovered' files are corrupt and you're SOL. You could try opening them with LibreOffice:

https://www.libreoffice.org/

in the hope that it will ignore whatever issue is bothering Excel. You might also try installing the (free) TextWrangler editor, e.g. from here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/textwrangler/id404010395?mt=12

and use it to open one of the XLSX files. If it's okay, you should see the contents of the file as structure that looks something like this:

If this isn't enough to figure out what the problem is then you may have more luck on the Microsoft Mac Users forum.

C.

P.S. Just because one file doesn't open it doesn't mean none of them will. You'll have to try 'em one by one and keep your fingers crossed at all times.

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Answer 2

Feb 21, 2016 7:13 PM in response to cdhw

Hi cdhw,

Thank you for your very prompt response. I will follow up your suggestions and let you know how I go.

Regards,

Graham

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Answer 3

Feb 22, 2016 5:00 AM in response to grahamfromdee why

Hi cdhw,

An update and some comments on your suggestions.

I have checked a number of the xlsx and xls files and I have Read & Write privileges in each case.

Using <Finder> and <View as Columns> I can see a thumbnail of each file, so the ones that appear as a blank thumbnail are obviously corrupted. If I double click the files that appear okay in <Finder>, then my default version of Excel (Ver 15.18) results in the the 'Grant Access' and ' Cannot open file' windows I included in my original post. However, if I right click on the same file I can select the older version of Excel (Ver 14.6.0) and the file opens. Similarly if I right click and select Numbers (Ver 3.6.1) the file opens okay.

I currently don't have LibreOffice installed on my MBP, but given that Numbers and the older version of Excel could open the (non-corrupted) files, I think that if I were to download and install LibreOffice it would also be able to open these same files.

I did download Text wrangler but to be honest I am not sure what I was looking at.

So, based on the fact that Numbers and the earlier version of Excel were able to open the non-corrupted files, I think it may be an issue related to the latest (Ver 15.18) of Excel that is the problem, so I will give the Microsoft Mac Users Forum a try. If have any success there I will come back and add an update to this forum in case anyone else experiences a similar problem.

In the meantime thank you cdhw for to efforts to solve my problem.

Regards,

Graham

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Answer 4

cdhw

Level 4

3,588 points

Feb 22, 2016 5:10 AM in response to grahamfromdee why

I wouldn't try opening recovered files by 'double-clicking' them and hoping that the right thing will magically happen; your best chance of success is to use the 'File > Open ...' menu in the application you want to use.

C.

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Answer 5

Feb 22, 2016 5:22 AM in response to cdhw

Hi cdhw,

Thanks for this advice. I am used to simply 'double-clicking' on 'good' files, but will take your advice when opening recovered files.

Kind regards,

Graham

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Answer 6

benwiggy

Level 4

1,473 points

Feb 22, 2016 5:47 AM in response to grahamfromdee why

grahamfromdee why wrote:

but will take your advice

If you're in the mood for advice: Please, please, please BACKUP your files in future. If you do not have another copy of your documents on another device, then you should expect to lose them.

Apple make it very easy with Time Machine: buy an external drive, plug it in, turn on TM.

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Answer 7

Feb 22, 2016 6:14 AM in response to benwiggy

HI bewiggy

Thanks for your advice which I have been following.

I hadn't wanted to burden forum members with the background to my current problem, but will explain now.

I have for many years been using Time Machine to back up to my 2Tb Time Capsule and when it became possible to back up to multiple devices I added an external hard drive, so I was very comfortable that I was well covered.

Then on the 8th of February something happened ( I don't know what) and all my backups disappeared. The Document folder on my MBP was empty and so were all the back up Document folders on the Time Capsule and the external hard drive all the way back to the beginning of April 2015! See my other post "How to restore a folder using Time Machine" that I posted about 2 weeks ago.

Sorry to boor you with all the detail, but I am a strong advocate of backing up and will continue to do so in future, but maybe not solely rely on Time Machine.

By the way, if you have any suggestions regarding my original problem with Time Machine backups I would be very please to hear them.

Kind regards,

Graham

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Answer 8

benwiggy

Level 4

1,473 points

Feb 22, 2016 6:22 AM in response to grahamfromdee why

My first thought when people say "everything disappeared" is that OS X has created a brand new user account. If OS X can't find the original user (User Id or location has been changed), then it creates a blank new one. The old account may still be on your Mac, and on your TM drives, but OS X now considers that data to belong to someone else and is not showing it to you.

Check whether there are any other user accounts on your MBP, and on your TM drives. See how much space is being used on each.

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Answer 9

Feb 22, 2016 8:54 PM in response to benwiggy

Hi benwiggy,

Thanks for your further comments.

When I said "everything disappeared" it was only the contents of my Documents folder in my user "grahamtaylor" user directory. All the other folders, e.g. Desktop, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, etc and their contents are still there.

When I "double-click" on Macintosh HD, I get the following window which shows a second user, "grahamtaylor1".

This "grahamtaylor1" folder contains only 17 items totalling 1.1 Mb but not all my 'missing' document files. I assume I can delete this user.

Is there another means by which can search for an "old account" on the MBP?

Regarding your comment about other user accounts, the MBP hard drive is 750 Gb of which 365 Gb is free. My "grahamtaylor" user account contains 402 Gb, "grahamtaylor1" contains 1.1 Mb and the other user accounts shown in the image above only have a few Kb in each.

Regards,

Graham

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Answer 10

benwiggy

Level 4

1,473 points

Feb 22, 2016 10:56 PM in response to grahamfromdee why

Normally, deleting a folder should not delete all the backups of that folder, so that's very odd. Also, I don't think you can delete the Documents folder - it's protected. So that is very strange.

Does 402 Gb sound about right for the size of your user folder? What does "About This Mac" say, under the storage tab? It should breakdown the file types. If there's a reasonable amount of "Other", then that might include your documents.

You've done a Spotlight search for some of the lost documents? Spotlight is not always good at finding things: you might like to try EasyFind, which is a free app instead.

http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html

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Answer 11

Feb 23, 2016 4:12 AM in response to benwiggy

Hi benwiggy,

Thanks again for your ongoing suggestions.

The Documents folder was not deleted, only the contents ( I am guessing there was about 150,000+ files) disappeared and all there was left in the folder was a random assortment of about 37 files. As I stepped back using Time Machine from when all the files disappeared, the 37 files gradually diminished down to one file left then the next backup (on the 1st April 2015) had all my documents up to that point in time.

The Documents folder on the 1st April 2015 contained 115,872 items totalling 79.8 Gb. I am slowly trying to recover all the files since last April which currently totals 450 items totalling 470 Mb, but I have a long way to go.

Looking at "About This Mac" the "Other" category totals 154 Gb.

I have tried Spotlight and EasyFind to try locate a few of the files lost using their file names - without sucess but think as I sift through all the files that were retrieved off the hard drive (they typically now have 9 digit file names) I will find some of missing files, but it will be a slow process.

Kind regards,

Graham

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