Forum Discussion
Document in "Read-only" mode all the time
Hi, I tried to find a solution here but I was not successful. I have SharePoint library and when we want edit word document in desktop application, document is opened as a "Read-only". Do you have any idea what to do with it? I just found that there is problem with OneDrive and synchronization. We have own Content type on this library but I just try to edit document directly from library and it is not possible.
41 Replies
Mirek_N wrote:Hi, I tried to find a solution here but I was not successful. I have SharePoint library and when we want edit word document in desktop application, document is opened as a "Read-only". Do you have any idea what to do with it? I just found that there is problem with OneDrive and synchronization. We have own Content type on this library but I just try to edit document directly from library and it is not possible.
I got the same issue before. What I had figured out, it happened after I synced my SharePoint library with the onedrive client in my PC. To solve the problem, I un-sync the library by unticking it from the settings.
Hope this also works for others.
- Thanks: disabling sync did the trick for me as well. Still buggy, it seems.
fakhrula Thank you. I have no idea how my Sharepoint locations had been added to my OneDrive Synchronisation. I have recently started using O365, and created some sites. Actually, I think I used Teams to create Channels. Maybe Microsoft integration (in this regard) has gone too far. It appear that the creation may have resulted in the addition of Sync, which I do not want (the whole point of Sharepoint for me, is that I don't have local copies). That said, what is the logic that allows me to have a local copy, that I can't update (only save as yet another copy)???? Surely it should update/overwrite regardless!
Anyway, as I say, I don't want a local copy, and so your suggestion works for me.
Onedrive Desktop App (right click cloud in systay) > Settings > Account tab > Stop sync (against the folder of interest)
ChrizK Replying to myself as the instructions are correct. Coincidently, I have been struggling again with Read Only. More of a coincidence, someone added to this thread which triggered my email. This is fortunate, as it made me read my own instructions. As I had a vague recollection of this problem, I thought I had stopped the OneDrive app during my investigation of the current problem, but Read Only persisted. This morning, I read the email and my own reply again. I checked OneDrive and found that there was a Sharepoint folder added to sync, but with zero bytes usage. Again, I have absolutely no idea how it was added, and I don't think it was even related to the folder I had the problem with (other than being the same Teams Channel, which means it shares the same Sharepoint Document folder).
Anyway, I removed this from OneDrive sync, and my document now allows me to turn on AutoSave once more (I still have major/minor checkout enabled).
- I could fix this problem by removing all credentials starting with "MicrosoftOffice2016" in Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager.
I experienced this same problem (everything opened in read-only mode) and after I tried all the tips and tricks I could find, this is the only one that worked for me: I stopped syncing the document library.
I re-synced the document library, and now the status of the files is clearly "read only":
I have never seen this "read-only" status before and I just cannot figure out why these files are locked while other libraries are just fine.
The only difference between the files is that the locked files are from a communication site and the files that work okay are from team sites. Otherwise the settings are the same and I have full ownership to all of them.
Ugh. This drives me crazy.Hilla_Mantyomenaas far as I know, the read only mode in the file explorer is set, when the synced list is set to have mandatory file tags. The explorer can't deal with it.
Hilla_MantyomenaSame over here. I kept having issues with read-only, unsynced from OneDrive, and now this is no longer an issue.
Thanks for the solution, It reduces my headache.
As you write the edit button is missing. I work with SharePoint for a long time and I know standard behavior. Anybody else does not work on document. Only I try to edit it. I do not know if there can be issue with OneDrive or Content types… but I have never had this kind of trouble with SharePoint library with co-authoring or even simply editing documents. It is really annoying and uncomfortable for end users when there is only one way to edit document that they have to download it, edit it and then upload back...
- Also other things that will make files read only with Sharepoint and OneDrive client are required fields. Make sure no fields have been made required. Also one of the following settings on the library will cause it to sync read only as well:
Libraries with Checkout, Required columns or metadata, or when Draft Item Security is set to either Only users who can edit or Only users who can approve items in Version Settings of the library.
