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. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2016-03-27T14:49:15+00:00

    I agree, terrible design.

    Question for MS: Why is this considered better?

    The concept is called "sandboxing" and Apple now requires sandboxing of all applications that are distributed via the Apple store. Although Microsoft Office is not yet available through the store, it is obvious that Microsoft is designing Office for Mac to be compliant with Apple's demands. Apple could  stop all non-sandboxed apps from running in a future update of Mac OS X.

    Apple and Microsoft think it is better because there is a chance that opening an attachment could cause code to run that takes over the entire computer. The new restrictions allow code to run only in the current application's "sandbox" so taking over the entire computer is not as likely to happen, although the current app is still at risk for corruption.

    The cost of sandboxing is very, very high. Users have to change how they use their computers. You can't work with attachments like you used to. You used to be able to save your documents and other files anywhere. Now they must be in special folders dictated by Apple and Microsoft. Applescripts are broken. Many add-ins won't run. The damage caused by sandboxing is extensive and very real.

    To me, the cost-benefit ratio of sandboxing is unacceptably high. I can't help but think that if a malicious attacker did to users what Apple and Microsoft did there would be an outcry. But because this is Apple's idea and it "improves security" (not by very much IMHO), we're all expected to go along cheerfully spending millions of dollars trying to cope.

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  2. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-25T20:41:58+00:00

    That is absolutely beyond me.  They are making it harder and harder to stick with Microsoft Products on the Mac.

    Actually, the behavior is the same in WinWord. Forcing you to save an attachment to disk is a security measure.

    In older versions, it was possible to save an open file attachment directly; what happened was that the changes saved to a temporary files location and got lost after you closed the attachment.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-28T18:06:49+00:00

    THANK YOU PHILLIP ! This problem had been giving me fits - turned out to simply be one of the illegal characters you mention. Many Thanks !

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