Excel opens file as read only; won't save after unflagging the file on disk

Excel opens file as read only; won't save after unflagging the file on disk I open a file that's read only. I change some stuff. When saving, Excel whines that it's read only. I uncheck the read-only attribute. However, the readable attribute does not propogate upwards to Excel itself, thus causing me somewhat of frustration.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 417

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"I read it differently from Kije.

When you open the file, if it is flagged as read only (attribute) Excel opens it in read only mode and that is fixed. Changing the attribute once it is already open makes no difference to Excel.
Best bet would be to do a save as... give it a different file name, then close and swap the new file for the old one in explorer.

Other possibility is that this has nothing to do with attributes at all, and the document has been ""marked as final"".
In the bottom left corner, where you see ""ready"" is there an icon next to it like a document with a rubber stamp being hit on it? If so, this is marked as final, as you will see when you hover on that icon.
Go to Office button > Prepare > Unselect ""Mark as final""
Document will now be editable and saveable"

Guest [Entry]

I had this same issue recently. I recovered the file successfully but when I tried to do a "save as" Microsoft Excel stopped responding. I honestly just ended up leaving it open for 20 minutes and it went through with the save eventually. Hope this tidbit helps!