OneDrive: why do Office documents need “Enable Editing”?

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I’ve noticed that any Office documents I store on OneDrive require me to click Enable Editing when I open them. I know that it’s possible to turn this feature off completely but that defeats the security purpose of it being there in the first place.

What I want to know is why this is happening specifically with documents on OneDrive and if there is any way around it.

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Most likely it is because it is a file downloaded from the Internet. Since Office files can contain malicious code in the form of macros they need to be enabled before changes.

Joe

--Joe

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These are documents I have created, not downloaded documents.

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Doesn’t make any difference. You are still downloading them from OneDrive to do the editing.

Joe

--Joe

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Doesn’t make any difference. You are still downloading them from OneDrive to do the editing.

Perhaps I haven’t looked at enough documents to know if I may have edited them only on the original PC where they were created or if they were edited on a different machine then updated on my main PC.

So perhaps my real question is, what file/document property is causing this to happen? I routinely exchange Word and Excel files with others by way of a VPN and/or FTP and don’t see this happening.

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So perhaps my real question is, what file/document property is causing this to happen?

Protected View:

What is Protected View?

Enable Editing for All Office 2010 Documents by Disabling Protected View

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I understand about Protected View. But why would putting a file on OneDrive cause this? Does Windows consider OneDrive to be an untrusted source???

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It is not that it is OneDrive. It is a file from the internet. Just because it is on OneDrive does not mean it is safe.

Joe

--Joe

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I don’t have this “issue”: I create a document in Word (2013 Desktop version), save it to OneDrive and that’s it. When I later open Word I can open any document I have saved to OneDrive and edit it directly.

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It may be because I frequently access OneDrive files from more than one computer (otherwise I wouldn’t bother with OneDrive at all). So perhaps it comes down to which computer I created it on originally. Well, originally most of the files were on a server.

But it’s hard to equate a file on OneDrive as being the same as a file downloaded from some sketchy web site. First, off doesn’t Microsoft trust it’s own Cloud service? Second, what file property says, “this is a downloaded file”?

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But it’s hard to equate a file on OneDrive as being the same as a file downloaded from some sketchy web site. First, off doesn’t Microsoft trust it’s own Cloud service?

If you had a shared folder in OneDrive others could add or change files.

Second, what file property says, “this is a downloaded file”?

Zone.Identifier in Alternate Data Stream: Alternate Data Streams in NTFS

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Zone.Identifier in Alternate Data Stream:

That’s a lot to digest, but I’ve checked several files using Streams and they don’t have an alternate stream.

It seems that most of the files in my OneDrive have this issue. The Protected View message is “This file originated from an Internet location and might be unsafe.” Then there is the Enable Editing button.

These files have only been edited two places: My Win7 computer and my NAS. They were moved to OneDrive as part of a set of about 100 documents so that they can, in the near future, be edited on my old Win7 or new Win10 computers. Without going through all of the files, I can’t say how many files act like this, but based on a sample, very few don’t.

Here are some tests:
–If I open and save one of the files that gives the message, it is fine when it is reopened.
–If I copy or move it to a non-OneDrive directory, then it does not give that message
–If I move it to a non-OneDrive directory and open it, it does not give that message, but if I move it back, then it does.
–If I move a file from a non-OneDrive directory to OneDrive, it starts giving me that message.

Here is the weirdest part, there are two files that were last edited on the same day in Oct 2015, which is before they were moved to OneDrive. One gives me the Enable Editing message and the other does not.

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Hi Graham

Have you tried setting your OneDrive folder as a Trusted Location?

David

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Have you tried setting your OneDrive folder as a Trusted Location?

That doesn’t seem to help for some odd reason.

Just to be clear about this… I can move a Word document from someplace on my C: drive into my OneDrive folder and at that point, I’ll get the enable editing message when I open it. Once opened and saved, it no longer gives that message.

BTW, I’m still on Office 2010. I’m not sure if this matters or not but it might – newer versions may not behave this way. This doesn’t keep me from working with the documents, but it is a pain.

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I get the message now and then when someone sends me an attachment. I haven’t gotten comfortable with the “Cloud” concept.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Once again, it is not a matter of Microsoft trusting OneDrive. It is that the content that the file may contain.

BTW, what is the precise message you get? That would give you a hint about why it is happening.

Joe

--Joe

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44011-ProtectedView
I just created a Word .doc file in Word 2010, saved it then used my Webmail to send it as an attachment to my other Webmail account. Checking that attachment in Open with or Save gives me the same yellow bar at the top about editing. Looks like Word only saw the last server the file went through as being foreign.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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I just created a Word .doc file in Word 2010, saved it then used my Webmail to send it as an attachment to my other Webmail account. Checking that attachment in Open with or Save gives me the same yellow bar at the top about editing. Looks like Word only saw the last server the file went through as being foreign.

I may be missing something but what does that have to do with OneDrive. I’m moving a Word document from one folder on my C: drive to OneDrive folder (also on C:) and having it suddenly become an untrusted file?

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I may be missing something but what does that have to do with OneDrive. I’m moving a Word document from one folder on my C: drive to OneDrive folder (also on C:) and having it suddenly become an untrusted file?

It’s just an example of what happens when sending a file from the computer to a server then the file being relayed to another server and finally to the computer, same or other one. OneDrive is ‘out there’ on a server just as iCloud, Intuit’s Cloud App.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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It’s just an example of what happens when sending a file from the computer to a server then the file being relayed to another server and finally to the computer, same or other one. OneDrive is ‘out there’ on a server just as iCloud, Intuit’s Cloud App.

The OneDrive folder on my PC isn’t “out there”. It’s not a virtual drive or a mapped drive. It’s a physical folder on my PC. If I put a file in there then it’s copied up to the cloud and downloaded to any other device I have connected to the account, but the original file I put there on my PC remains on my PC. The files that copy down aren’t coming from some unknown location on the internet, they are coming from Microsoft’s own servers.

But let’s just say for a moment that the OneDrive folder on my computer is being treated as if it was foreign. Then I would expect that any file in there would consistently require the enable editing. However, that’s not the case. If I move a DOCX file from my PC to my OneDrive folder, then it will require me to enable editing. But, once there and opened and saved, it is now “safe” and won’t give that warning any more.

What I don’t get is why MS doesn’t seem to trust it’s own cloud drive. Even making it a Trusted Location in Word doesn’t make any difference. It just seems weird to me that this is happening.

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Again, it is not that Microsoft does not trust OneDrive. The OneDrive folders on your PC are a reflection of what is stored online. Therefore, the files are considered to be from an online source. It is the content being stored on OneDrive. Microsoft does not control the content in your Office files. Office file content may contain code that can be executed on your PC. Microsoft does not look at the content to check code and try to determine if it is safe for your individual circumstance.

With your action of opening and saving you have made a determination that the file is OK on your PC. Thus, no more warning.

Joe

--Joe

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With your action of opening and saving you have made a determination that the file is OK on your PC. Thus, no more warning.

I still don’t get why a DOCX that I created and saved in C:TempDocuments, then moved to my OneDrive folder, suddenly requires that I enable editing on it. I can only assume that, regardless of how it got there, MS considers it to be untrusted until I specifically enable editing and save it.

The larger question is still, does it have something to do with the way I have things setup (entirely possible) or does this happen to everyone?

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I still don’t get why a DOCX that I created and saved in C:TempDocuments, then moved to my OneDrive folder, suddenly requires that I enable editing on it. I can only assume that, regardless of how it got there, MS considers it to be untrusted until I specifically enable editing and save it.

The larger question is still, does it have something to do with the way I have things setup (entirely possible) or does this happen to everyone?

Just a thought, does it happen when moving or copying a Word document from the default file storage Documents Folder of Word rather than from C:TempDocuments?

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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I will try this one more time. It makes NO difference that you created the DOCX file. It makes NO difference where you originally saved the file. It also makes NO difference that you made you local copy of OneDrive a trusted location. Once you move it to OneDrive it becomes a file from an internet location. Once it is a file from an internet location its author and original storage location is irrelevant. That is where protected view comes in. See the Protected View link in post #6.

Joe

--Joe

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