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How to force to open as read only in Excel?

Author: Sun Last Modified: 2025-04-16

Sometimes, you want users who open your shared workbooks to be cautious before editing them. You can display a read-only prompt to warn them, as shown in the screenshot below.

A screenshot of a read-only prompt in Excel

Make a read-only prompt when open by clicking an option

Make a read-only prompt when open by Save As

Note: the methods provided in this tutorial are tested in Excel 2021, there may be some differences in different Excel versions.


Make a read-only prompt when open by clicking an option

Click "File" > "Info" > "Protect Workbook" > "Always Open Read-Only".
A screenshot of the Protect Workbook > Always Open Read-Only option in Excel


Make a read-only prompt when open by Save As

1. Click "File" > "Save As", and choose a location to place the new read-only file.
A screenshot of the Save As window in Excel

2. In the "Save As" window, after specifying the location, click "Tools" > "General Options".
A screenshot of the Save As Tools > General Options in Excel

3. In the "General Options" dialog, tick "Read-only" recommended. Click "OK" > "Save".
A screenshot of the General Options dialog with the Read-only recommended checkbox in Excel

Tip: Click "Yes", if there is no change in the workbook, it can be saved, if there are changes, it will be saved as a new file when clicking Save. Click "No", users can do an edition in the workbook.


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