SharePoint Online - file modified date updating when user views files in browser

Iron Contributor

I created a new library with excel files on Modern Communications Site.  Files open in browser. If a user opens the file in browser and immediately closes, it shows LAST MODIFIED a few seconds ago by that user.  User only viewed.  Is this normal behavior?  I didn't think it was possible until I reproduced it.

 

I changed settings to open in client, to prevent this, but but thought I would see what others thought... could this be a bug?  or is this normal?

6 Replies
It's normal because they changed the default open to "edit mode" when opening files. Which honestly, I don't like for this exact scenario. With Auto-Save turned on with the client if you have the newer client, you will run into the same issue as well.

I wish they would have made this an option, I thought there was an option to choose which method, and not sure if it can be overwrote been looking for the message center post about this change to see if they included that option or not.
Hi all
I am the same problem. Any solution about this ?
Max
Hi, I have a solution to this. In Sharepoint, change your view to “Explorer View”, then simply copy and paste the file from there to the destination folder. This will preserve the Modified Date of the file. Cheers!
Yes - see reply to original question :)

@JHerschel

There is an extension for Chromium browsers called "SPO View It" that can resolve this issue.

You can also use Requestly on Chromium or Firefox to create an HTTP redirect filter that changes the end of the URL from "action=default" to "action=view". This changes the default way the file opens from edit mode to view only.

 

Requestly can also fix the common complaint about PDFs opening in the Sharepoint viewer instead of the normal browser viewer.