Share via

Excel Document opens as Read-Only and unable to check in the documents

  • Article

Symptoms

Excel Document open as Read-Only and Unable to check in the documents are both interrelated issues.

The exact cause of this issue is not known as it varies from client machine to different machines. When we ask the user who has problem to check this on any other machine they don’t get issue.

The below symptoms are not the root cause investigation steps though these are the helping guide to resolve the issues of user who has the problem on their specific machines. 

Common errors

User may get:

  • “FileName.xls” is read-only. To save a copy, click Ok, then give a workbook a new name in the Save As Dialog Box.”
  • “This document could not be checked out to your local drafts folder. The document may have already been checked out, or the local drafts folder could not be written to"
  • “An error occurred while connecting to the server. If the problem continues, contact your administrator.” **

Scenarios

There two possible scenarios for this issue.

Scenario 1: Excel Document open as Read-Only.

Symptoms:

Using Edit in Microsoft Office Excel, open document as Read-Only.

Click on file directly and click check edit, Opens as Read-Only.

Click the file in Read-only mode and check-out to edit, opens in Read-Only mode.

Scenario 2: Unable to check-in back documents.

Symptoms:

User can check-out the document (check-out done to the Local Draft). User the click the link again to the open the file and modifies it. User can save the changes, and then tries to exit excel. User see a message saying 'Other users cannot see your changes until you check in. Do you want to check in now?". Click YES, add Comments, Click OK. The sheet should now disappear, but nothing is happening. Document does not checking back in, so user is not able to make any changes.

Resolving Action

Resolution: Scenario 1 Excel Document open as Read-Only.

If this happens check:

  • Try to delete the IE history files, Reset the IE to Advance settings.
  • See if the site is added in the trusted zone of IE.
  • Check if the user has Compatible SharePoint Add-on Enabled in IE from Tools -> Manage Add-ons ->  Check if SharePoint OpenDocuments Class Add-on is Enabled. If no, enable it. And restart the browser.
  • Check the settings on the machine its working fine and not on the machine it’s not working fine.
  • Check the user Profile settings as well.
  • Check If user has permissions on the site, the lib. and the file.
  • Clears the SharePoint Draft folder location for the user from C:\Documents and Settings\fileid>\My Documents\SharePoint Drafts
  • Try to change the SharePoint Draft location for the user by Open the file on your desktop in excel> Click on the Office button -> Click on 'Excel Options' -> Click on 'Save' in the left menu -> Under the 'Offline editing options for documents managements server files' section select 'The web server' instead of 'The server drafts location on this computer' -> Specify the path ‘H:\Profile\My Documents\SharePoint Drafts’ -> Click 'OK' twice.
  • Try to run the office diagnostics for the user Go to Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Office-> Microsoft Office Tools -> Microsoft Office Diagnostics and click Continue.
  • Try to run the Excel or specific document diagnostic by opening document in excel -> Click on the Office button -> Click on 'Excel Options' -> Click Resources -> On Run Microsoft Office Diagnostics, Click on Diagnose and click Continue. 
  • Check the document of the version with which was created.
  • Check if user has multiple versions of Office installed on their machine such as Office 2003 and Office 2007, if yes, keep the latest one and do a reboot of the machine and ask the user to re-open the document. 
  • You can also follow the steps given in the KB published by MS: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/870853.

Resolution: Scenario 2 Unable to check-in back documents.

If this happens check

  • Try to delete the IE history files, Reset the IE to Advance settings.
  • See if the site is added in the trusted zone of IE.
  • Check the settings on the machine its working fine and not on the machine it’s not working fine.
  • Check the user Profile settings as well.
  • Check If user has permissions on the site, the lib. and the file.
  • Clears the SharePoint Draft folder location for the user from C:\Documents and Settings\fileid>\My Documents\SharePoint Drafts
  • Try to change the SharePoint Draft location for the user by Open the file on your desktop in excel> Click on the Office button -> Click on 'Excel Options' -> Click on 'Save' in the left menu -> Under the 'Offline editing options for documents managements server files' section select 'The web server' instead of 'The server drafts location on this computer' -> Specify the path ‘H:\Profile\My Documents\SharePoint Drafts’ -> Click 'OK' twice.
  • Try to run the office diagnostics for the user Go to Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Office-> Microsoft Office Tools -> Microsoft Office Diagnostics and click Continue.
  • Try to run the Excel or specific document diagnostic by opening document in excel -> Click on the Office button -> Click on 'Excel Options' -> Click Resources -> On Run Microsoft Office Diagnostics, Click on Diagnose and click Continue. 
  • Check the document of the version with which was created.
  • Check if user has multiple versions of Office installed on their machine such as Office 2003 and Office 2007, if yes, keep the latest one and do a reboot of the machine and ask the user to re-open the document. 
  • You can also follow the steps given in the KB published by MS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2801565, if webclient service is already started and this doesn’t resolve the problem then please restart the webclient service from Service.msc and do a re-boot of the machine.

Additional info/advice for the user:

Once the New Office Package got installed on your machine, always remove the old Office Package

 

Product Applies to: 

  • Office 2007 
  • Office 2010
  • SharePoint 2007
  • SharePoint 2013