I transferred Office to my new laptop and excel only opens in read only so I cannot save anything.

Question

I transferred Office to my new laptop and excel only opens in read only so I cannot save anything. I signed in to word and that is ok but excel I clicked read only in error. How do I fix it

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

To help narrow down the issue:

1. Does every Excel file open as read-only, or just one file?
2. Do you see a "Read Only" or "Protected View" message at the top of Excel?
3. Is this a file you copied from the old laptop or a new file you created?
4. Do you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, or a one-time Office license (like Office 2021)?

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In the meantime, if you haven’t already:

If Excel opens in read-only, it is often because Excel is not activated on the Mac yet.

Please check the license first:

• Open Excel.
• On the top menu, click Excel > About Microsoft Excel.
• Look for License or Product Information. It should show either Microsoft 365 subscription or a licensed Office version.

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Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.