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Ed Hansberry's avatar
Ed Hansberry
Bronze Contributor
Jan 11, 2017

Files [READ ONLY] but no indication they are, so cannot save changes

I have the latest (ends in .1212) client and am still seeing an issue that has been there since the initial release back in Sept/Oct.   I can open a file in Excel, either from the MRU list in Excel...
office 365
OneDrive for Business
Dale Christian's avatar
Dale Christian
Brass Contributor
Feb 13, 2017

Thank you Ed for the meticulous documentation of this issue.  We see the same behavior:  not every open of a file, but a lot of them, result in unexpected read-only.  It seems to happen most frequently when opening through the MRU menu.  Using the latest NGSC and Office suite.  Would love to hear from Microsoft on this.

  • Mikeal Long's avatar
    Mikeal Long
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 11, 2018

    Dale and Ed- 

    Is it possible that the files that are doing this are created in a version prior to Office 2016 and they have to be converted before they act correctly?

    • Ed Hansberry's avatar
      Ed Hansberry
      Bronze Contributor
      Jul 12, 2018

      No, because for us the problem stopped about 6-8 months ago, so clearly a OneDrive code fix either removed the issue or severely mitigated it.

  • Ed Hansberry's avatar
    Ed Hansberry
    Bronze Contributor
    Feb 13, 2017

    I would love to hear from MS too, but no clue how to get them engaged. :-(

      • Ed Hansberry's avatar
        Ed Hansberry
        Bronze Contributor
        Feb 26, 2017

        Please note that the new version of OneDrive DOES NOT FIX THIS.

        Version 2016 (Build 17.3.6798.0207) on Windows 10.

         

        Just ran into this again today:

        • Opened file in Teams telling it to open in Excel
        • File opened in Excel.
        • Does not say READ ONLY in header, and the yellow "edit" bar did not show up.
        • Tried to save changes to file and was told it was read only and to save a copy.
        • Closed file without saving and reopened.
        • This time the yellow "EDIT" bar showed up.

        Come on MS. How much time and/or data is lost due to this?

    • Rob Farnell's avatar
      Rob Farnell
      Copper Contributor
      Feb 14, 2017

      Vote on this OneDrive suggestion:

      https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/262982-onedrive/suggestions/17864110-enable-sync-client-to-allow-editable-synching-of-t 

       

       

  • Luke Gatchell's avatar
    Luke Gatchell
    Copper Contributor
    Feb 13, 2017

    This morning I stopped syncing the one site that I used, deleted the "SiteName - Documents" folder (after backing it up), and re-synced the entire site (by browsing to the site in my browser, and clicking on the Sync icon).

     

    It synced the entire thing, and now every single Excel doc I click on shows the READ ONLY yellow bar (which is good!), BUT when I click "Edit Workbook" it says "We're having trouble connecting to the server. If this keeps happening, contact your help desk". If I browse to the file on Office 365 within the browser, and click on it, it opens. Then if I click Edit in Excel, it opens in Excel, but the exact same thing happens...I get the yellow bar, and clicking on "Edit Workbook" gives me the same message.

     

    As Dale pointed out, I used to see this issue more from the MRU menu as well...now it happens from the MRU or from File Explorer, or from sharepoint within the browser.

     

    The only way I've been able to edit my documents is to go to the OneDrive settings and uncheck the "Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open" checkbox on the Office tab. That allows me to open the file...and so far, if I make changes and save it, it works. Although I'm concerned about whether I'm stepping on another user when I do so...or if I'm going to get the random "we can't save your changes because the file is ready only" popup (even though it doesn't tell me that when it initially opens).

     

    I thought doing a re-sync would work. Maybe I need to re-sync ALL my sites? What about deleting the OfficeCache folder under AppData? Is that still necessary, or was that more related to Groove? I have not tried that yet.

     

    Also, I'm considering wiping out my Office entries in the Windows Credential Manager. Perhaps something is out of sync there? Clearly the message I'm getting is bizarre because my machine clearly can connect to the server, or none of this would by syncing, etc.

     

    Oh, I also when to File / Info in Excel, and it kept telling me I had local changes that could not be synced with the server, and I told it to discard them and get the latest from the server, and it closed the doc, but then just left me with a blank Excel shell. It never grabbed the latest doc, but also gave me no messages.

     

    I also tried going to File / Account and under "Add a Service" re-entered my Office 365 credentials to connect to "Office 365 Sharepoint", but it didn't seem to make a difference. (It was already showing "Sites - CompanyName" under Connected Services, but I thought I'd try anyway.)

     

    I also agree...I'd love to hear from Microsoft on this.

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