You may have obtained a Excel someone’s file but you can’t edit it due to a strange Read only notification. There are several ways around this problem, and as always, let’s talk about it a bit. Read only is very common and means that the user can only read the file and not make any changes to it.
How to remove read-only from Microsoft Excel
If you want to edit or make changes to the Excel document, you can remove the Read-only attribute by using one of these methods:
- Use the Edit button anyway
- Save the file
- Read only recommended and password locked
- Protected leaves.
1]Edit anyway
The typical read-only error simply requires the user to click a button indicating Edit Anyway. Once done, the user can now make changes to the document as they see fit. Very simple and to the point. Although it doesn’t work all the time, it’s the first thing you should try. This may not work if it is password protected –
2]Save the file
OK, so the next way to fix the read-only problem is to save the file. Clicking the Save button above will not work. Therefore, we must take advantage of the Save as a function. In your Excel document, select File, and from there, click Save As.
Choose where you want to save the Excel document and that’s it, you’re done. Go ahead and open the newly saved Excel document and you should be able to edit and make any changes.
It also works if you get an error stating Excel file is restricted. Just follow the steps and you should be ready to go.
3]Read only recommended and password locked
If you are in a situation where the entire document is locked and requires a password to unlock it, this may help. It will also work if read-only is recommended when opening an Excel document, so keep reading.
OK, so the first thing you need to do here is click on File, then Save As. After that click on More options, then in the window that appears, look below for Tools.
Select it and you should immediately see the option to add a password to open the file or uncheck the Read only box.
4]Protected sheet
It is possible to protect a sheet in Microsoft Excel. We can do this by right-clicking on the sheet name, then select Protect Sheet and be sure to add a password. A protected sheet means that no one will be able to modify the document, therefore, end users must know the password before proceeding.
So, to get things back on track, right click, then select Unprotect Sheet and add the password to unlock it.
Now, since we are using the Office 365 version of Excel, which is the most recent version of the tool, access to certain areas can be very different compared to older versions.