Files open in 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.

When trying to save changes to an Excel sheet you might find that you are unable to do so, because the file is ‘read-only’.

At other times you might see a message such as the one shown below (when trying to open an Excel sheet).

Sometimes this may be done by the author of the sheet for added security. At other times, it may be because you downloaded the file from the internet.

There may be a number of different reasons for a file being read-only.

In this tutorial, we will discuss probable reasons your spreadsheet is showing up as read-only.

Depending on the reason, we will then discuss how you can remove the read-only status from the sheet or workbook.

Possible Reasons your Sheet is ‘Read-only’

To be able to remove read-only from your sheet, it is important to understand why you see it in the first place.

There might be a multitude of reasons your worksheet or workbook is showing up as ‘read-only’. Here are some of the possible reasons.

The Sheet may be ‘Marked as Final’

Excel lets you mark a finished workbook as the ‘Final draft’ so that others cannot mess with it any further.

An Excel file that has been ‘Marked as Final’ cannot be edited, so all types of actions on the worksheet are disabled.

The author of the sheet (or someone else) might have marked the worksheet as final, and that may be the reason the worksheet is ‘read-only’.

Tell-tale signs of a sheet marked as final are a yellow message on the top of the workbook that says ‘Marked as Final: An author has marked this workbook as final to discourage editing’.

The File property may be set to ‘Open as Read-only Recommended’

Another reason might be that the author (or previous user) had set the file to open as ‘read-only recommended’.

When you open a file that has been given this setting, Excel prompts you to open the file in read-only mode, unless you want to make edits to it.

If you only want to view it without making any edits, you can go ahead and click the ‘Yes’ button. But if you intend to make changes, you need to click on the ‘No’ button.

Setting as ‘open as read-only’ (without a password) doesn’t really serve to protect the file, since the user can always click No and then edit the file.

All it does is just act as a precautionary measure that makes the user aware of what they are about to do.

The Content may be Protected

If the workbook or worksheet you are trying to edit is in ‘Protected’ mode, then the contents are read-only. The author might have chosen to protect the contents from changes made by unauthorized people.

You can tell if the contents of a workbook are in protected mode by going to the Review menu tab. Under the Changes group, you should see a button that says ‘Unprotect Sheet’ and/or ‘Unprotect Workbook’.

When you try to make any changes, you should also see an alert that says something like “The cell or chart you are trying to change is on a protected sheet”.

File Properties may be set to ‘Read-only’

The author might have set the file attribute to ‘read-only’ to avoid accidental edits to the workbook. You can tell if the file property has been set to ‘read-only’ by following the steps below:

1. Right-click on the filename in your file browser
2. Select ‘Properties’ from the context menu that appears
3. This should open the file’s Properties dialog box.
4. Look for the ‘Read-only’ check box in the ‘Attributes’ category.
5. If the check box is ticked, that means the file property has been set to ‘Read-only’.

The File may be in ‘Protected View’

Files downloaded from the internet or from potentially unsafe places run the risk of carrying viruses or other malware. These can pose a threat to your computer, so they are usually opened in Protected view.

Files opened in this way let you read the contents of the file while reducing risks.

When a file is opened in Protected View, most editing functions in it are disabled. There may be multiple reasons for a file to be in Protected View. Some of these are listed below:

• The file might have been downloaded from the Internet or from an email attachment
• Your computer policy might have defined the sender of the file as unsafe
• The file might have been opened from an unsafe location
• The file may be blocked by File Block
• There might be a file validation failure or error detected while opening the file
• Sometimes, if your filename contains special characters like the ‘/’ symbol, then the file gets opened in ‘read-only’ mode.

Files that are in Protected View usually contain a pink or yellow warning message on the top of the workbook that says “Protected View”

Antivirus may be causing the Workbook to Open as Read-only

Some antivirus software opens potentially unsafe files as read-only, to minimize risks.

This could also be a reason your excel sheet is not accepting changes.

Now that you are aware of the possible reasons your file is in read-only mode, you can use the guideline above to systematically rule out what is causing your sheet to show up as read-only.

Once you have established the cause, you can now go on to remove the read-only status using the steps shown below.

If your Sheet is ‘Marked as Final’

If your sheet has been marked as final, there are two ways to go around this:

If the File property was set to ‘Open as Read-only Recommended’

If your file is set to Open as Read-Only, you would see the message below on opening the file:

When you see this message box, you have two options:

• Open the file in read-only mode
• Open the file in the editable mode so that you can make changes to it.

If you intend to make changes to the file, you only need to select the ‘No’ button and your file will then become editable.

If your file was set to read-only recommended with a password, you might need to enter the password to start editing.

To remove the ‘Open as Read-only Recommended’ setting, follow the steps below:

1. Click on “Save As” from the File menu.
2. In the “Save As” dialog box, click on the Tools drop-down.
3. Select ‘General Options’ from the drop-down list that appears.
4. This will open the ‘General Options’ dialog box.
5. Uncheck the box next to ‘Read-only recommended’.
6. Click OK.

This will remove the read-only restriction from the Excel document. You can now save the file with a new name or the old name.

If the Content is Protected

If your worksheet or workbook is in ‘Protected’ mode, then follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Review tab of your Excel window
2. Look at the items under the ‘Changes’ group of this ribbon. If you see a button that says ‘Unprotect Workbook’ select it to unprotect it.
3. Similarly, if you see a button that says ‘Unprotect Worksheet’, click on it to unprotect it too.
4. If the sheet or workbook was protected with a password, you will be asked to enter a password. Enter the password (if you know it) or find it out from the person who protected the sheet/ workbook.
5. Click OK.
6. Once you see the Unprotect button toggled back to ‘Protect Workbook’ or ‘Protect Worksheet’, it means Protection mode has now been disabled.

You can now go ahead and make edits to your sheet/workbook.

If File Properties have been Set to ‘Read-only’

If the ‘read-only’ mode is due to settings imposed on the file properties, you can remove it as follows:

1. Right-click on the filename in your file browser
2. Select ‘Properties’ from the context menu that appears
3. This should open the file’s Properties dialog box.
4. Look for the ‘Read-only’ check box in the ‘Attributes’ category.
5. Uncheck the box next to the ‘Read-only’ attribute.
6. Click OK.

If the File is in ‘Protected View’

If your file is read-only because it is in Protected View, make sure it is safe to remove the read-only setting before you actually attempt to do so.

Once you have established that it is safe, and the file’s source and content can be trusted, you can simply click on the ‘Enable Editing’ in the Message Bar.

If an antivirus is causing the Workbook to Open as Read-only

If your Excel file is opened as ‘read-only’ due to antivirus settings, then you might need to adjust the setting from your antivirus software’s properties.

If the problem still persists, you might need to check with the antivirus provider to find out how the setting can be changed.

Finally, if all else fails, you can always use “Save As” to create a copy of the file and then make your required edits to it.

In this tutorial, we discussed the possible causes for your file opening in read-only mode and showed you how you can diagnose which of the possible causes is affecting your file.

We also showed what you can do to remove the read-only status once you find out the correct cause.

We hope this was a helpful tutorial and that we could help you disable read-only and start editing your sheets with ease.

Other Excel tutorials you may find useful:

• How to Lock Cells in Excel [Mac, Windows]
• Why is Merge and Center Grayed Out?
• How to Open Excel File [xls, xlsx] Online (for FREE)
• Why does Excel Open on Startup (and How to Stop it)
• How to Find out What Version of Excel You Have
• How to Make Excel File Read Only
• Can’t Type In Excel: 6 Possible Reasons and Solutions!