KB129278 - Can't Show Conflict History in Read-Only File

Article ID: 129278

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q129278

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you click Shared Lists on the File menu, you receive the following error message if the file is open as read-only:

Can't access read-only document '<filename.xls>'

The Shared Lists dialog box does not open, and you cannot show the Conflict History in the file.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because when a file is open as read-only, you cannot change the status of the Multi-User Editing feature in the file. When you change the status of the Multi-User Editing feature in a file, Microsoft Excel requires that you then save the file. When a file is open as read- only, you cannot display the Shared Lists dialog box.

RESOLUTION

Although you cannot display the Shared Lists dialog box in a read-only file, you can display the Conflict History by running the following procedure in a Visual Basic module:

   Sub Conflict_History()
      ' In the following commands, replace BOOK1.XLS
      ' with the name of the file that is open read-only
      Workbooks("BOOK1.XLS").Activate
      Workbooks("BOOK1.XLS").ShowConflictHistory = True
   End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The Conflict History is a worksheet that contains information (such as Date, Time, Cell Location, and Value) about conflicting cells in the workbook as a result of multiple people editing the same file. To display the Conflict History, do the following (the file must be open with read- write protection):

On the File menu, click Shared Lists.
Click the Editing tab.
Click the Show Conflict History check box, and click OK.

A Conflict History worksheet is inserted in your workbook with the information about the conflicting cells on the worksheet.

Additional query words: XL7

Keywords: KB129278