Read-only mode in Word 2016 (Mac) locks out any edits until Duplicated and saved?

Anonymous
2015-09-05T15:01:42+00:00

Why do all docs opened in read-only mode (like every attachment from Outlook) lock down the file for no editing until it is saved? The new error bar comes up and says Read Only: To Save a copy of this file, tap Duplicate. Then tapping the Duplicate button brings up a save dialog box. I definitely don’t want to save the dozens of attachments I access on a daily basis, but sometimes you want to tweak some spacing to print a resume or any other number of things.

I get that Outlook saves into the temp folder, and I've ensured there are read/write permissions on that folder. Is there a setting I'm missing to fix this? I can't tell if it's a bug or feature. Forcing a save first would be a new and rather invasive design choice.

Anyone else getting this behavior and find a fix?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2016-05-06T21:37:25+00:00

I found a workaround to this issue.

I have a Mac with El Capitan (not relevant) and Office 2016. When I open a Word attachment from Outlook, it prompts to Duplicate which requires that I save it first in a non-temporary folder area before I can edit it.

My workaround is

  1. open the email in Outlook.
  2. You will see the attachment with a Word icon. Next to it is the PREVIEW button which uses the Mac's built-in Preview application. Click on the preview button to open it in the preview application.
  3. In the preview window in the upper right corner click on the OPEN IN WORD icon. It opens it in Word in edit mode without requiring a save.

I did not find the problem or resolution to be related to illegal characters.It's a deliberate sandboxing issue which makes sense from a security and UI point of view. It is a pain but, was put in place deliberately for a reason. I only started to investigate it after one of my Mac users complained about the extra steps. The biggest pain for the person was saving to a non-temporary folder area. If it defaulted to DOWNLOADS or MY DOCUMENTS, then this would have been more palatable.

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  1. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-10-12T14:21:00+00:00

    You can vote for the suggestion to which cxr341 has already provided a link.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-10-12T14:34:24+00:00

    I've decided to abandon Office 2016 for Mac and have gone back to my 2011 version the doesn't see crashing. locking up and that lets me edit a word doc on opening it. MSFT customer support have not been able to solve matters. I managed to obtain a refund.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-25T15:54:29+00:00

    Interesting, because I am going thru the same decision making process myself on Office 2016 for Mac vs Office 2011.

    The Word issue is annoying.  Excel crashes all too frequently.  But, most unacceptable, is that on importing 13 GB of emails from Outlook 2011 into Outlook 2016, it has trashed all my Categories.  It recognizes them in Tasks, but has not carried them into emails.  As I use this for a lot of searching / "filing" it is a disaster.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-11-25T19:16:05+00:00

    I got a refund and moved back to my 2011 version.

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