Additional permissions are required to access the files (Word for Mac)

Anonymous
2019-05-06T07:05:57+00:00

Split from this thread.

Hello

I am trying to open a docx file and I keep getting a message that additional permissions are required to access the files. 

After selecting the grant access option I get the message "Word cannot open the document:  user does not have access privileges" and I cannot open the document.

My current version of office is 16.24

Version of Mac is 10.14.4

When I perform a computer restart I can open my Word docs then, after a while, I can't open any docs. 

attached is a screen shot of the error message.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2019-07-19T04:22:23+00:00

This is a fix, but the specific steps are a bit drastic by removing your whole keychain, which contains a lot of other useful things.

You can fix this in a different way without messing up your whole keychain.

Make sure the office Applications are closed.

Within KeyChain Access, just search for ADAL, remove the entries starting with 

MicrosoftOffice as the kind plus com.microsoft.adalcache

The 16.27 update release July 16 2019 should fix most of the issues with this Bug.

Additionally the following are some fixes that will fix this specific error and similar permission errors with Office Mac products

  1. Update Office to 16.27 or later (choose Check For Update from the Help menu in any Office Application)
  2. Remove Microsoft ADAL keychain entries (search for ADAL in the keychain and remove those items)
  3. Remove the securebookmarks preference files

Press Command+Shift+G in the finder then paste the following

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/

Within this folder remove the following file

com.microsoft.Excel.securebookmarks.plist

Press Command+Shift+G again and then paste in the following

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/

Within this folder remove the following file

com.microsoft.Word.securebookmarks.plist

After any and all of the above steps, please reboot your machine (manually removing preferences and keychain items does not guarantee they will be recreated properly unless you restart)

Additionally if the files are located on a shared drive, the files may be open by someone else. The other users may also just have the files highlighted in the finder (whereby it is then generating a preview of the file and therefore the file is marked as open)

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-07-31T19:15:19+00:00

    I agree with several people here.  I have zero issues with 30 + apps, only Microsoft Office.  Actually Excel 2019 no longer has the issue for me.  Just Word and Powerpoint.  I have deleted so many references, and re registered in so many times.  Microsoft should provide a fix.  2 years is too long to wait for a fix from a major company like Microsoft.  James Barry

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-07-31T18:22:00+00:00

    e_Whizz,

    I attempted to do your fix, but there are no Microsoft keychain entries, and the other files are nowhere on my computer.

    I've attempted many other fixes too (global permissions and even reinstalling the OS).

    I upgraded from Office 2011 over a year ago, and had nothing but problems. Fonts were not recognized, I couldn't open any files on Dropbox, etc.

    I switched back to 2011, but I see that MS is no longer going to support it.

    To the MS people on this thread, please provide a REAL fix.

    I am a designer, so disabling fonts is a total deal breaker (and should never be considered a "fix").

    Dropbox is widely used for business file sharing, so saving files locally is a deal breaker too (and should never be considered a "fix").

    I've spent hours and hours on the phone with Apple and Dropbox trying to find a solution. The problem CLEARLY resides with MS.

    This has been a known problem for at least 2 years, so it's inexcusable that MS has not provided a fix.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-07-25T09:12:15+00:00

    Hi Sue and Profinov,

    We suggest you try out the suggestion that e_Whizz has provided and let us know the results. If the issue persists, let us know and we'll assist you in further troubleshooting the issue.

    Regards,

    Sheen

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-07-25T02:47:00+00:00

    I get this problem when I choose "save as" and go to update the filename for a new draft. Existing document, same location on my hard drive, hit the save button and: Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error.

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