Changing file permissions when saving Word or Excel documents

[mrlegowatch]

Hi,

I work in an office environment which consists primarily of PCs using
Office (Word, Excel, etc.). I have found that when I save an existing
Word or Excel file (Office 2004 with all the updates) which is on a
network drive with multiple user and group permissions, the write
permission reverts to just me, instead of the multiple users and
groups, i.e., it becomes read-only for everyone else. It doesn't
matter if the file is open with "(shared)" access on Windows first, if
I save it, it becomes read-only to everyone else.

Currently, I have to remember to immediately drop into Terminal and
type 'chmod ug+w file-name' before anyone else notices that I'm using
Office:Mac. Unfortunately, I've slipped up a couple of times, and
people are starting to notice (and stare, and become annoyed). Am I
doing something wrong with saving, is my IT department doing something
wrong with the server (or users and groups), or is there a bug in the
Office:Mac save command which strips write permissions on save?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Hi,

I work in an office environment which consists primarily of PCs using
Office (Word, Excel, etc.). I have found that when I save an existing
Word or Excel file (Office 2004 with all the updates) which is on a
network drive with multiple user and group permissions, the write
permission reverts to just me, instead of the multiple users and
groups, i.e., it becomes read-only for everyone else. It doesn't
matter if the file is open with "(shared)" access on Windows first, if
I save it, it becomes read-only to everyone else.

Currently, I have to remember to immediately drop into Terminal and
type 'chmod ug+w file-name' before anyone else notices that I'm using
Office:Mac. Unfortunately, I've slipped up a couple of times, and
people are starting to notice (and stare, and become annoyed). Am I
doing something wrong with saving, is my IT department doing something
wrong with the server (or users and groups), or is there a bug in the
Office:Mac save command which strips write permissions on save?

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. This behavior is by design.
Excel is the only office application that can manage a shared file, and you
have to do this through excel. When one user opens a file for read/write. No
other user may open it for read/write (except for Shared Excel workbooks).
Everyone attempting to open the file will open it as read only.

 

[mrlegowatch]

Let me clarify two specific scenarios:

- When I open and save a non-shared file, the write permission reverts
to me, after the file has been closed.
- When I open and save a shared file, the write permission reverts to
me, after the file has been closed.

The trouble actually came about with an Excel shared file. The author
of the file, a PC user, had it open as shared, and when I opened it on
the Mac, it appeared as "(shared)" but when I saved my changes and
closed it, the PC user complained that the file had become read-only
to himself and to others who were attempting to open and modify it.

The problem is that, after the file has been closed, nobody else can
modify it until they or I type chmod ug+w on the file. Are you sure
this is by design? Does it also happen with Windows Excel?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Let me clarify two specific scenarios:

- When I open and save a non-shared file, the write permission reverts
to me, after the file has been closed.
- When I open and save a shared file, the write permission reverts to
me, after the file has been closed.

The trouble actually came about with an Excel shared file. The author
of the file, a PC user, had it open as shared, and when I opened it on
the Mac, it appeared as "(shared)" but when I saved my changes and
closed it, the PC user complained that the file had become read-only
to himself and to others who were attempting to open and modify it.

The problem is that, after the file has been closed, nobody else can
modify it until they or I type chmod ug+w on the file. Are you sure
this is by design? Does it also happen with Windows Excel?

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood. No, when you close the file, the permissions
should return. I thought you were describing what happened when you STILL
had the file open. It does not happen on my network. I can freely open and
close Excel files from Mac Excel 2004 and then reopen the same files from
Excel 2003, windows XP, and the files are opened normally.