SharePoint 2010 – Unable to edit cell in Datasheet view – “This cell is read only”

When I try to edit the excel in SharePoint 2010 list in Datasheet view, I see an error saying that “The Selected Cells are Read-only” as shown the image below.

• I have verified user Permissions to the list. User Having Full control permissions to the list
• Checked-out by any one (It is not document library)
• Any Attachments having read-only – NO
• Is current column is default system column? (Like Created, Modified Etc..) – NO

After checking all these details, I found Microsoft Support article about the fix. We have Content Approval enabled in the list and that is blocking DataSheet View edit. By Turning Off the Content Approval, We can fix the error.

Here are the steps to turn off content approvals,

• In the List select Settings
• Select List Settings
• Select Versioning Settings
• In the Content Approval section select No for "Require content approval for submitted items"

Now we can able to edit the items in DataSheet view.

Hope this helps.

Excel Online error - we are sorry we couldn't open your workbook it is possibly corrupt or using a file format is not supported

I am seeing an error when I try to open Excel file in SharePoint Office Excel with error message “Excel Online error - we are sorry we couldn't open your workbook it is possibly corrupt or using a file format is not supported” as shown the image below.

I have verified excel file is corrupt and external data is loading from anywhere. But File looks good and there is no external data loading to the site.

After checking some posts, I found that it is due to protected mode enabled in the excel file. To fix the error, we have follow the steps below.

Download the document and open it in excel

Open the document in excel and uncheck all the options under Protected View. Go to file->options->Trust Center->Trust center settings->click protect view and uncheck all options under protected view. Then upload the document to the library to check if the same issue will occur.

By default, it will open excel file in excel online when storing the excel file in SharePoint online. Save and upload the excel in the Library. Try to open the file in Excel web app.

Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {00024500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 8000401a.

While working with excel in one of my SharePoint site with excel, I got an error as “Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {00024500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 8000401a” as shown the image below

This is the issue related to permissions for excel application in the server. We can fix the issue by the steps below.

Open Component services by entering dcomcnfg in Run.

In Component Services navigate to Component Services->Computers->My Computer->DCOM Config->Microsoft Excel Application. Right click and select Properties option as shown below.

Select “Identity” in top, “Which user account do you want...” section, select “This user” and enter the account having admin control on the machine.

In the security section, Under "Launch and Activation Permissions", Choose "Customize", Click "Edit" button, Add the everyone account and add all the Permissions as shown below.

Do the same thing in "Access Permissions" and "Configuration Permissions". Now we can run excel without errors. 

Hope this helps.

Exception from hresult 0x800a03ec excel - Error ‘Microsoft Office Excel cannot access the file’ while accessing Microsoft Office 11.0 Object Library

We got this error with SharePoint 2007 farm custom coding. Code downloads all the list items to excel template. Generally we can see this error with rows updating in excel. But we haven’t changed anything from DEV to PROD. We have investigated the error in SharePoint logs and Event logs.

We are seeing the error as there are several possible reasons: 

·           The file name or path does not exist.

·           The file is being used by another program.

·           The workbook you are trying to save has the same name as a currently open workbook.

After checking the issue. We have found that there is the error with excel service. To fix that we have to create a folder.

If we are running in Windows Server 2008 64-bit/R2,

·           Navigate to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile folder and create the following directory “Desktop”

If we are running in Windows Server 32-bit

·           Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop folder and create the following directory “Desktop”

If still you have the issue, you have to change the security setting to run excel application using following steps,

·           Start –> enter DCOMCNFG.exe to open Component Service

·           This will bring up the component services window, expand out "Console Root" -> "Computers" -> "DCOM Config"

·           Find "Microsoft Excel Application" in the list of components.

·           Right click on the entry and select "Properties"

·           Go to the "Identity" tab on the properties dialog.

·           Select "The interactive user."

·           Click the "OK" button.

·           Switch to the services console

·           Start the service automating Excel

·           Test you application again.

Enable Windows authentication in IIS if excel application in your site prompting for credentials.