Forum Discussion
Files [READ ONLY] but no indication they are, so cannot save changes
This is exactly what I have seen since using the /takeover and utilizing the new NG OneDrive. Here are the specifics:
I did the onedrive.exe /takeover option and it shut down Groove, and took over syncing the sites that were already on my machine. I noticed it retained the folder name of "Sharepoint" under the hood, even thought it looks like (in File Explorer) that the folder name is our company name (like "Contoso"). It spent the next 30 minutes or so re-syncing things, so even though the process says that nothing will need to be downloaded, apparently quite a bit actually did need to be (not sure why).
It eventually completed, and had errors because it doesn't appear to like to sync empty folders. Is that a problem that will be fixed? If we have a placeholder folder, why does the entire file structure need an overlay of a red "X"?
What i'm seeing now is that whenever I open an Excel doc either by double-clicking on it in Explorer, or by first opening Excel, and then selecting it from my recent list of items, it will open the document, but no longer gives me the option at the top (in the yellow bar) that says "READ-ONLY We opened this workbook read-only from the server.", and then a button to "Edit Workbook". Prevoiusly, all opened Excel files would do this, and although some people found it annoying, it was actually a great step to prevent accidental changes of the files.
Actually, I should say sometimes it gives me that message, but almost always when it does, clicking on "Edit Workbook" comes back with "We are having problems contacting your server...check with IT" or something like that. And that message just continually comes up with no resolution. You have to close and re-open the file and hope for a different result this time.
And then when you open the file and it does not show the yellow bar with the READ ONLY, I go ahead and make changes to the file, and attempt to save it, and then it tells me that it's read-only and cannot be saved! And there is now no way to "Edit Workbook", so the only choice is to lose all changes, or save it under another name, copy over the original file, etc. A real pain.
Does the "Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open" setting have anything to do with this? I just attempted to uncheck that, and after restarting OneDrive, I am now randomly seeing the "READ ONLY...Edit Workbook" message when I open certain files, and when I click "Edit Workbook" it does seem to be working. But, it is still often opening the file without that message...and then I'm stuck having to save the file before I do anything to "test" if it's read-only (not ideal, because it updates the file date/time even when I haven't done anything).
Are there known bugs like this still in the works? So far, I'm not planning to move our team from Groove if this unreliableness continues...
Is there any chance a fix is in the works for this? I don't know if the fix is with the client, or something on the server side...
Months later I continue to see the same thing Luke. I have to close the file and reopen, and sometimes close Excel and reopen, which is a real pain if I have multiple files open and am in the middle of a project.
And if you make changes you need to save and this happens, you have to save the file as a different name in a different location, then name it the same as the old file, close Excel, then copy the newer version on top of the older version.
If you save as a different name, the delete the old and rename the new, you lose all saved history for that file in the Sharepoint/OneDrive/Group file system.
This needs to be fixed. This is still on .1212.
We are seeing this for those that ran /takeover and for those that installed the new Sharepoint Onedrive client fresh.
Last night I re-checked the box under settings "Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open". Initially, several Excel docs I opened all gave me the READ ONLY prompt, when I clicked "Edit Workbook", it actually worked! Then I went to the other site I have synced (I have 3) and opened an Excel doc, and this time, no READ ONLY prompt. And yes, when I attempted to save, it told me it couldn't contact the server so I would have to save it under another name.
Today I was mostly getting the READ ONLY yellow bar, and when clicking "Edit Workbook" I was getting the "Can't contact server" message. I'd close the doc and re-open it, until I got it to open without the READ ONLY message in the yellow bar. Then I could make a test change, and save it, and watch it do the "upload to sharepoint" in the status bar at the bottom...and then be ok. Sometimes it would fail and I'd have to re-open, but once it updated successfully, it would always update from that point on until I closed it.
I also noticed that opening it from the "Recent Files" list (opening Excel first, rather than double-clicking on it in the file explorer) would almost never give me the READ ONLY yellow bar, and it would almost always fail to save ("Can't contact server"). I'd have to close it, and then open it from file explorer...sometimes a few times...in order for it to work.
Would be nice if anyone from MS could weigh in. Is there anywhere to see a list of reported bugs or at least what they are currently working on? Have you guys submitted this through the Report a Problem menu when you right-click on the System Tray menu? I'm about to do that...
"Have you guys submitted this through the Report a Problem menu when you right-click on the System Tray menu? I'm about to do that..."
Yes - BE VERY CAREFUL!!!
When I did that, they send me instructions to reset my OneDrive setting to "clear the issue up."
- It wiped out ALL of my preferences in OneDrive, both personal and business
- It reset every site to full download, rechecking every box I had unchecked in every site I was syncing.
I didn't realize what had happened until OD was well on its way to downloading some 200GB of files to my machine and I had to scramble to uncheck things then wait for it to realize I had unchecked, then remove those folders I didn't want.
When I then told the MS rep what happened, she said "Yeah, that happens. And we know about the bug but wanted to see if that fixed it for you" knowing darn well it hadn't for anyone else and the issue is fundamental to the product and not anything on my machine.
So if you get any response to run the onedrive.exe with the "/reset" switch, just delete the email and go about your day.
Same thing if you get an email saying to use the /update switch, or the /uninstall switch. If you have .1212, you just have to wait.
