Why do I have to grant access permissions?

Question

Why do I have to grant access permissions?

Anonymous

Split from this thread about something entirely different.

I have a problem with Word files not opening because it says:

"Word cannot open the document: user does not have access privledges.

I don't have permission rights to open them. It seems ot only be when I open from Recent files on the Mac M1. I have done the following:

Reinstalled MS Word on the M1

Reinstalled the Mac OS Big Sur

Did a test user and it made no diffference

I spent 2 hours on the phone with Apple and finally they just said to call Microsoft.

New documents seem to open and close fine.

My license is a family verison of Office 365, and Office works fine on my old late 2013 Intel Machbook Pro.

The license is up to date, but I had to pay with a different credit card after receiving an email that my old one expired, which it had.

My credit card shows a charge from Microsoft for the subscription update.

My old Mac has no problems with the same license. The subscription is good for multiple computers and I have 3 computers using it at this time.

Any ideas?

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1 answer

Answer 1

Hi

It just means that the file you are trying to open is not located in the Mac OS documents folder. Mac OS doesn't like that.

Either move the files to your Mac OS Documents folder or go to System Preferences > Security and Privacy. On the Privacy tab, in the left side choose Full disk Access and in the right side check Microsoft Word. You will have to unlock the box by clicking the lock in the lower left corner before you can change the setting.