Read only attachments

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I get lots of Excel workbooks attached to emails. I make changes to them, but when I go to Save them and send back, I get the “Read-only” file message and have to go through the steps of saving elsewhere with a new name and resending, thus wasting time and space. Is there a setting or something I need to change to stop this annoying situation? I don’t recall this in 2003. TYIA!

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I think it’s because Outlook holds the file open when Excel launches.
To get around it can you send directly from Excel – File > Send To?

cheers, Paul

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It sounds as though you have a lot of experience working this way, but for many users, this is a good way to lose the original document and/or lose your changes. Saving to and working from a folder other than the Outlook cache folder is safer. But yes, there are more steps…

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I want to save the file I received with my changes to it. That is what the sender is expecting. Also, that keeps the email chain intact. So I do want to replace the original with my changed copy without having to go the Copy of route.

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You need to find the copy that has been opened by Outlook and work out why it is read only. It may be an attribute on the file or Outlook may genuinely lock the file. We need to know which.
To find the file select File | Save As and the dialogue box should show the current path.

cheers, Paul

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you should be able to save your changes to your normal work area, Outlook opens temp copy in the Temp Internet Files area of your profile, with a random name such as OLKxxxxx (xxxx=numbers), best to open the attachment, press F12 to Save As, drop it into your My Docs folder make your changes, and then from the Excel File menu you can choose to attach to email and send back without having to leave the app. However, if you wish to use the same email chain that it arrived on, you will have to save the file and then reply to the email and substitute the new file that you edited, from its My Docs location.

if you don’t save the changes to a proper location, when you close the app, Outlook is supposed to delete/remove the temp file created when you opened the attachment from the message.

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