File Permissions
I tried to change the access permissions on a folder on the server to limit the munber of people able to access the spreadsheets in it. This for some reason changed the whole folder to read-only. I have tried to fix this but the read-only box is always checked in the folder properties. However, i am able to access one of the Excel spreadsheets with no problems but the other one gives me the message: "Excel cannot access name.xls. The document may be read-only or encrypted." The file is not read-only when I go into the properties. How can I fix this so I can get into the spreadsheets?
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ASKED:
May 18, 2005 7:14 AM
UPDATED:
May 25, 2005 11:32 AM
Answer Wiki:
Hi Mcandrcp,
Did you change the permissions to the folder or to individual files ? Is the folder inheriting any permissions from a higher level folder, you should be able to see those by looking at the folder properties and seeing some "greyed" out ticks against particular permission attributes. Can you list out the groups granted permissions on that folder ?
Cheers
Mike
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Try something simple .. if it works keep it that way:
Create a new folder and set the groups you want to give access to. Copy the files there and see the results. That should give you an idea what is happening.
Ami
I’ve seen scenarios in the past where read only attribute gets locked and files will open in read only mode.I’m assuming you tried a reboot?
I had changed the permissions to the folder but changed them back instantly when I realised that people couldn’t access the documents. All Excel docs in the folder work again now except for the one in question which brings up the error message and won’t let me in. I have played around with the permissions but to no avail. When i view the properties for the doc, its not read-only but under the security tab, there are no groups or users and it won’t let me add any. Nor will it let me inherit permissions from parent under the advanced button. Can you help me? How can i give users permissions?
Thanks
If you’re an admin which I guess you must be then you should be able to take ownership of the file in question and then add/inherit the relevant permissions.
Or the file may be corrupt. Try creating a new workbook/worksheet in the same location (call it “test” or some such) and copying and pasting the data to the new file. Are the permission settings now available? If so, you’ve addressed the issue. If not, again, have you rebooted? A user or process on the network somewhere may have accessed the file and not released control, effectively locking the file. A reboot should cure this…
Copy the spreadsheet to a location on your desktop. Delete the spreadsheet from the original folder. Now copy the spreadsheet back to the original folder. You should be able to access the spreadsheet. When you copy a file the permissions default to the original file permissions before the change giving you full access to the copied file.
You may be unable to remove the Read-Only attribute from a folder using Windows Explorer. In addition, some programs may display error messages when you try to save files to the folder.
This behavior is by design according to MS KB Q256614.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q256614