File opens read only excel

As documents are passed around, upward or downward, perhaps one needs to think about restricting what the other users can do. Maybe it’s okay to make a few changes to see how things add up but imagine the chain effect of accidentally saving an experimental change to a very important document. Or even accidentally hitting a key somewhere. Such changes have reported thousands of losses to companies.

Scary talk aside and solution-storming in, if you’re aiming for a complete restriction where cell values can’t be changed at all, you’re looking for sheet protection. But if it’s okay to make changes to the file as long as they’ll be restricted from being saved, you’re heading right for Read-Only.

We have prepared this tutorial on how to open Excel in Read-Only mode. You will find few easy methods to do that including VBA. We’ve also covered two options for those who need to have the users of the file reminded that they need to access the file as Read-Only.

But basically, what happens in Read-Only Mode? Firstly, the file name at the top of the workbook gets a Read-Only tag:

When you make any changes to the file, they will apply but when you try to save the file, you’ll have to save it as a copy because the original file can’t be overwritten in Read-Only mode.

Now we can jump on the “how” part of opening a file as Read-Only. Let’s begin.

Open Workbook as Read-Only Using File Open Dialog

Instead of regularly opening a file, it can be opened as Read-Only, and below are the steps:

• Open Excel and navigate to the File tab, on the ribbon.
• Click on the Open button from the left panel and select Browse from the options to access the Open

• Browse and select the file you want to open as Read-Only.
• Click on the arrow of the Open command button at the bottom-right of the dialog box and select Open Read-Only from the list.

Selecting this option will open the file as Read-Only.

Open Workbook as Read-Only Using VBA

Any workbook can be opened as Read-Only using VBA. You need to run the file path in the provided code and feed it in VBA via a module and the chosen file will open as Read-Only. We have the steps for this below:

• Open a new Excel file.
• Open the VB editor from the Developer tab or press Alt + F11.
• In the editor, click on Insert and select Module to open the Module

• Copy-paste the following code in the Module window but change the file path to the file path including the filename of the workbook you want to open as Read-Only.

Sub Open_Workbook_As_Read_Only()
'Open a Workbook as Read-Only
Workbooks.Open "C:Employee data.xlsx", ReadOnly:=True
End Sub

• Press the F5 key to run the command.

The chosen file will open as Read-Only. You can close the previous file.

Forcing the File to Always Open with a Read-Only Prompt

Someone may forget to open a file as Read-Only, oops. Instead of opening the file every time as Read-Only, the file can be made to pop up a prompt, suggesting the user to open the file in Read-Only mode whenever the file is accessed. There are a couple of ways of setting the file with a Read-Only prompt that we have detailed as follows.

Forcing the File to Open with a Read-Only Prompt Using Save As Options

This method utilizes the tools in the Save As dialog, setting it with a Read-Only recommend. These are the steps:

• With the file open, go to the File tab and select Save As from the left pane. Select the location for saving the file. The Save As dialog box will open.

• Click on the Tools button at the bottom of the dialog box and select General Options.

• In the General Options dialog box, check the Read-only recommended checkbox, then click OK.

• Click the Save command button in the Save As dialog box.
• Close the file. When opening the file, the Read-Only recommend will pop up:

The user can still choose to access the editable file by selecting No here but the prompt does its work to serve as a reminder.

Forcing the File to Open with a Read-Only Prompt from Protect Workbook Options

Another way to fit the file with a Read-Only prompt is to use the Protect Workbook options from the Info settings. Here’s how to go about it:

• Click on the File tab of the opened workbook.
• In the File menu, select Info from the left panel and then click on the Protect Workbook button to access the options.

• Select Always Open Read-Only from the options.

• After selecting the option, the workbook will have been protected with the Read-Only prompt.

• Close the file and save the changes.

And that’s done. Now the file will show the prompt whenever accessed.

 Now if you’re done with only reading, have a go at applying one of the methods to open a file as Read-Only. Next time you consider saving your file from meddling, see if you want to have it run as Read-Only or have the workbook protected; Excel hardly comes with a single possibility for things. See you shortly with more possibilities from Ever-Ever-Excel-land!

Have you ever stuck with the Excel read only error or cannot access read only document Excel issue? Mostly it is seen that Excel file read only error occurs meanwhile trying to open the Excel file which is downloaded from a network server, emails, and the internet.

If you too are dealing with the same issue then leave all your worries. This article will provide you with the best solutions to fix Excel file read only error.

SO, JUST GIVE THEM A TRY…!

What Is Excel Read Only File And How It’s Helpful?

Excel read-only file is one such file having attribute ‘read only’ turned on. Basically, such excel read-only file can be easily viewed and opened just like any other file but writing or saving changes on it is that allowed in it. So you can only read the file not write or save anything on it.

Excel file which is marked read-only, generally considered under great caution right before making any changes to it.

Many users take benefit of this Excel file read only feature to restrict the editing and formatting of their Excel document by any content reviewers.

Suppose if you don’t want that any content reviewer will make any type of modification in your document. Then make your Excel workbook read-only before handing over your document.

If any reviewers perform any changes to that Excel read-only file. In that case, modifications can only be saved if any new location or a new name is assigned to the file.

No doubt it’s a good feature..!

But, what if you are unable to open the read only Excel File. This will ultimately throw the following error message: Excel cannot access read only document. After the occurrence of this error, you are completely unable to access your Excel workbook. So, it’s important to fix Excel read only error to get back access to your Excel workbook.

Why Does My Excel File Keep Saying Read Only?

Before stepping into the fixes to resolve Excel read only error. It’s important to know about the reasons behind Excel worksheet showing read only error.

1# Spreadsheet Settings

Excel workbooks and spreadsheets can be applied with protection features to get easy prevention from any kind of changes.

As per the protection level, you may make it completely or partly Read Only. For this, you have to choose the”Unprotect” option within the review tab. If any user has enabled the protection with a password then it’s important for you to have that password to remove the read-only protection.

2# File Corruption

In many cases, it is seen that Excel file corruption also makes your Excel spreadsheet Read Only.

Even after checking all the setting and ensuring file location if you excel workbook still displaying the Excel read only error. Then it’s a clear sign that your Excel file got corrupted somehow and hence it denies getting open.

3# Location

Another very common reason for Excel read-only error is its location. If your Excel spreadsheet is within the network folder and you don’t have network permission to do any changes in the folder. In that case, your Excel spreadsheet worked as read-only. This means you can only view its data but can’t perform any editing into it.

Excel spreadsheet present on the locked USB stick, DVD CD-ROM, area also considered as Read Only. A spreadsheet that is sent as email attachments or previewed inside any email program is counted as Read Only.

Well in all the above cases, to fix Excel read only file error. You need to either move or save the spreadsheet into the folder having complete permission to make changes.

How To Fix ‘Excel Cannot Open Read-Only Documents’ Message?

Check out the following fixes to resolve ‘Excel Cannot Open Read-Only Documents’ error Message:

1# Change the Excel File Property Set

One very typical reason for the occurrence of Excel cannot open read-only documents’ message is Excel file property is set to read-only.

To solve this matter, you just need to uncheck the Excel ‘Read-only’ file property option.

Here are the following steps to uncheck the ‘Read-only’ attribute,

• Make a right-click on some specific Excel file
• From the available option, choose the ‘Properties’ tab.
• Remove the checkmark from the ‘Read-only’ attribute and tap the ‘OK’ option.

Check out whether the Excel read-only error is been resolved now or not.

2# Excel File Is In Read-Only Recommended

If you are opening a recommended read-only Excel file. Then you are asked to open your Excel workbook in read-only mode for making any modification in the Excel file.

Tap the yes option in the Excel read-only error message dialog box. If you don’t want to do any changes to your opened Excel file. Or else tap to ‘No’ options.

If you don’t want to get this read-only recommended on your Excel workbook then perform these below steps:

• Make a double tap on the Excel file. After then choose the No option to open it.
• Hit the File then Save As. In the opened save as window go to the Browse option.
• In the bottom section of the Save As dialog box, tap the Tools, and then choose the General Options.

• Within the General options, you have to uncheck the Read-only recommended check box. After then tap the OK option. Doing this will disable the read-only message in your Excel file.

3# Adjust the Antivirus Setting

Sometimes the read only error in Excel is also encountered due to the antivirus program. As it is seen that few anti-virus programs restrict the accessing of Excel spreadsheets and many other MS Office documents by opening them in ‘read-only’ mode.

To deal with such cases you need to make adjustments in the antivirus settings. So, that the antivirus will allow your Excel workbook to get open in normal mode and you can perform easy modifications in it.

Don’t forget to reopen your Excel workbook after making changes in your antivirus settings.

4# Remove the Excel Protected-View

Excel file which gets opened from a potentially unsafe location like the internet, email attachments, downloaded from any third party source, etc. are opened in protected view. This feature of Excel Protected-View restricts the user to make any modification in their opened Excel spreadsheet. So, you can turn off the Protected-View security warning messages in Excel and freely use the Excel file with the only read-only error.

5# Deactivate Or Renew Microsoft Office

Chances are also that your MS Office application is either reached in the deactivated state. Or maybe its subscription has been expired.

Maybe this makes your Excel application to show such ‘read-only’ error or encounter ‘reduced functionality mode.’

To deal with such an issue, you need to either activate the MS Office or just renew the subscription of MS Office.

After performing such an operation, make check whether the error ‘Excel cannot open read-only documents’ has now fixed or not.

6# Make A Fresh Copy Of Your Excel Document:

Well, there are so many reasons behind Excel Cannot Open Read-Only Documents. There are such situation occurs in which you can easily make changes in the Excel workbook but saving up your changes is not possible. So, in that situation, a quick solution is to choose the “save as” option.

As this option makes a copy of your Excel workbook with all your changes done. If you want to permanently fix the issue of “Unable To Save Excel File” then move the Excel spreadsheet.

But if accidentally you have losted up your Excel workbook content due to inability to save it. In that case recover MS Excel Lost content from Excel temp files.

7# Make Use Of Excel Repair Tool Software:

As we have already discussed above that among various reasons for Excel read only error; “corruption of Excel file” is the most common one. So, to troubleshoot Excel file corruption issues make use of the professional and reliable Excel Repair Software.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

The software is specially designed to fix any kind of corruption issue and Excel error. This tool also provides a lot of features that can easily help you to fix any kind of error and also recover the data quickly and easily without any hassle.

Conclusion:

After reading the above article now you can easily troubleshoot the ‘Excel cannot open read-only documents’ on your own. But if the read only Excel file error is because of the excel file corruption then fix the damaged Excel files by making use of Excel repair tool.

Let us know whether your Excel read only file error is been resolved after trying the above fixes or not. So don’t forget to share your experiences with us in our comment section. Besides, you can ask any kind of queries related to the Excel workbook.

If you have been working with Microsoft apps (such as Excel, PowerPoint, or Word), I am sure you have encountered files that are read-only.

What a read-only file means is that it’s only supposed to be read, and not be edited.

So if you make a file read-only (and the user opens it as a read-only file), they won’t be able to make any changes to the original file.

In this tutorial, I will cover how to make an Excel file read-only, all the options a user gets when opening a read-only file, and how to remove the read-only property from an Excel file.

You’ve probably created a lot of Excel files that you need to share with other users, but don’t want it to be changed. 

If you make a file read-only, other users will have access to it, but all changes will have to be saved in the new file. Therefore, the original file will be untouched.

This way you can be sure that your file will be the same despite sharing it with other colleagues (especially if that file is on a network drive where multiple people can change it).

Let’s now see how to save an Excel file and protect it as read-only. This option can be activated during the saving of the file.

1. In the ribbon, go to the File tab.

1. In the menu on the left side, choose Save As.

1. Choose Browse.

1. In the Browse window, click on Tools and choose General Options.

1. In the General Options window, you need to check Read-only recommended and click OK.

1. Now you’re back in the Browse window, and just click Save button to save the file and read-only settings.

Finally, you saved your file as a read-only Excel document.

Let’s now see what happens when you open the file and try to edit it.

One thing you need to remember is that when you make a file read-only, the user can still open the original file and make changes to it (they just need to decline the option to open the file as read-only). So if you’re doing this to make sure no one changes the original file, be informed that this is not a fool-proof way.

What Happens when You Open a Read Only File?

If you try to open the previously saved read-only file, you will get the following prompt:

Excel notifies you that the file you’re opening is read-only and asks you if you want to open it as read-only or not.

Possible answers here are:

• Yes – if you select Yes, the file will be opened in the read-only mode, which means that you will have to save it as new file (with a different name) in order to save your changes
• No – if you choose No, the file will open as a regular Excel file (not in read-only mode), and you’ll be able to make changes to the original file and save it
• Cancel – if you choose to cancel, it will close the file

As you can conclude from the previous explanation, the read-only feature doesn’t actually protect your workbook.

This option just notifies a user that you don’t want the original file to be changed. However, if a user doesn’t choose to open as read-only, the file can be changed normally.

So, if you want to be sure that your file is secured and not changed, you need to password protect it. On the other side, the read-only option is just a notification for other users.

One scenario where making the file read-only helps is when you don’t want yourself or any other user to make any changes in the file inadvertently. So if you only want to read the file (and it has been saved as read-only), it’s better to open it as read-only. This way, even if you make some changes and hit the save button, it will save it as a separate file.

Changing a Read Only File

If you select yes when opening a file (which means that you opened the file as read-only), you will have to save it as a new file after making any changes.

When you open a read-only file, you can see at the top of the file (next to the name) that the file is read-only.

1.  Once you’re done with the changes and want to save the file, click the save icon or press CTRL + S on the keyboard to save the file.

1. The warning message pops up, with the information that you can’t change the read only file and have to save it as a new file with a different name or in a different location.

1. When you press OK, the Save As window will appear. Here you have to give a new name to the file or go to Browse and select a new file location to save it.

As a result, the original file remains unchanged, while the changes you made are saved in a new file that you created.

Removing Read-Only Option from a File

If you don’t need your file to be read-only anymore, you can easily remove a read-only option from the file and make it editable again.

In order to do this, you have to follow similar steps to creating a read-only file.

1.  First, you need to open the file as editable, not read only. When you open the read only file, Excel will ask you if you want to open it as read only, and you have to click No.

1. In the ribbon, go to the File tab.

1. In the menu on the left side, choose Save As.

1. Choose Browse.

1. In the Browse window, click on Tools and choose General Options.

1. In the General Options window, you need to uncheck Read-only recommended and click OK.

1.  Now you’re back in the Browse window, and just click the Save button to save the file.

Finally, you saved your file without the read-only feature. If you open it again, you will be able to change it and save, without any restrictions or warnings.

Also read: How to Edit Document Properties in Excel

Conclusion

As you saw in the article, making an Excel file read-only, can help you to prevent unwanted changes to your file.

However, this feature can’t stop a user from changing your file. It will only give a warning, that a file is read-only, and shouldn’t be changed.

You must keep in mind that a user can always choose to ignore a warning. Furthermore, the file doesn’t need to be opened as a read-only and in that case, it can be easily changed and saved.

So, if you need to protect your file from changes and want to be sure that it won’t be changed, you need to use password protection.

Every read-only file has the information next to the name on the top when it’s opened, that you’re working in a read-only file. When changing this kind of file, all changes have to be saved in a new file with a new name, or in a different location on a computer.

If you want to remove a read-only attribute from a file, you need to open it not as a read-only, but as an editable file. This way, you can use the same steps as for creating a read-only file to remove this feature. All of this, you need to do during the saving of a file.

I hope you found this tutorial useful!

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