TCSPMS Excel 2016 opens workbooks as read-only
A few months ago, we were presented with an issue in MS Excel. However, this issue only occurs when the end user opens an Excel document that is hosted in SharePoint.
What is the issue?
If you are using SharePoint and synchronizing files locally with OneDrive for Business, all Excel spreadsheets in you SharePoint folders will open as read-only and display the message:
READ-ONLY We opened this workbook read-only from the server.
Unfortunately, the message might take a few seconds before appearing or the user simply ignores the message and gets to work. If this happens, the user will be forced to save the file with a different name, causing duplicates and issues with data entry.
Is there a solution?
Yes, Microsoft listened to the end users and is proving an update to put things back to normal. Meaning, update your MS Office to Version 1707 (Build 8326.2096) or higher and the issue will go away.
What build of MS Office 2016 do I have?
- Open MS Excel 2016 and select Blank workbook.
Note: You can use MS Word, Outlook, or any other MS Office application.
- From the top navigation, click File.
- From the left side, click Account.
- The version and build number are located under Production Information.
Update to the latest MS Office 2016
Important: You will receive MS Office updates based on your subscription and release channel. To learn how to switch between channels, visit this Microsoft article.
- Open MS Excel 2016 and select Blank workbook.
Note: You can use MS Word, Outlook, or any other MS Office application.
- From the top navigation, click File.
- From the left side, click Account.
- Click the drop down Update Options and select Update Now.
- Reboot your computer.
Did someone report this “feature”?
Yes! While we were researching this issue, we found 2 main reports:
- Kimmo @ Excel.UserVoice.com (Excel’s suggestion box)
Oct 14, 2015
You can see the conversation here: https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10205019-read-only-mode - Zakir H – MSFT @ TechNet
Nov 12, 2015
You can see the conversation here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/office_integration__sharepoint/2015/11/12/excel-2016-opens-sharepoint-workbooks-as-read-only/
Why did it take so long to solve it?
We believe is related to votes. Meaning, if the suggestion has a low quantity of votes, Microsoft does not consider it an important matter. This behavior is understandable, simply visit the Excel suggestion box and see how many requests they have…
In June 2017, we started experiencing the issue and noticed that the 2 main posts talking about this matter, were not connected. Meaning, people talking about it in TechNet were not voting in Excel.UserVoice.com. Therefore, we started posting comments between multiple communities to make people aware about the suggestion and increase the total votes.
Well, we have succeeded! Back in June 15, 2017, the main request only had 71 votes in a 2-year spam. Now, as of Sep 17, 2017, it has 127 votes and a lot of comments!
Conclusion
Microsoft listens to the end user. Make sure to post issues that you are facing with your Microsoft products to TechNet and if you have an idea for MS Excel, post it to Excel.UserVoice.com.
How about other Microsoft products?
All or most products from Microsoft have similar “suggestion box” websites. Use a search engine, such as, Google or Bing, and search for “MS Word Suggestion Box”. Here are a few sites:
Category: Issues and Solutions Tags: Excel, Issue, Read-only, Solution
