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
    2019-07-31T21:26:34+00:00

    e_Whizz,  I have followed all of the items from Keychain:  

    Here are the particulars of my machine with the issue:

    I have done all of the terminal resets too..... Please reach out if you need further information .  James Barry.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-07-31T21:15:37+00:00

    Disabling fonts is a skill that all good designers utilise regularly. You cannot be productive with hundreds of fonts active. hence why tools such as FontBook, Masterjuggler, Suitcase Fusion etc exist.

    Dropbox does store files locally. That is its main feature.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-07-31T21:10:43+00:00

    What specific version of Office are you running? Have you done the 16.27 updates?

    If you cannot find ANY microsoft keychain items, then clearly you are not looking in the right place. There are many.

    The securebookmark files referenced above can only be found via the terminal, not via Spotlight or other easily accessible GUI means.

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  4. 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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