Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere I
can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find any
help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
workable when they get it.

"islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:451F424A-AF50-4FC1-82ED-7C0293174F5E@microsoft.com...
> Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere
> I
> can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find
> any
> help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> workable when they get it.
It is just recognizing that you burned a CD-R. If you need to be able to
read and write, then the most portable way is to use a CD-RW.
Jim

"islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere
> I
> can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find
> any
> help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> workable when they get it.

All the person who receives it needs to do is copy it to their computer and
then edit it with the same software program.

It sounds like even though you are using a CD-RW disk you are not creating a
writeable CD. To create a writeable CD packet writing software needs to be
installed on the system and the person who receives has to have the same
software.

--
Rock [MS-MVP]

Easier fix:

Just have the recipient copy the file from the optical
disc to a scratch directory on their machine.

Then right-click from Explorer, select Properties, then
untick "Read Only".

No additional software needed.

"islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:451F424A-AF50-4FC1-82ED-7C0293174F5E@microsoft.com...
> Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere I
> can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find any
> help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> workable when they get it.

islandgirl62 wrote:
> Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document
> into a 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked
> everywhere I can think to see if something is checked that causes it,
> but can't find any help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW
> discs, which I have. Can anybody help me? The data I need to forward
> on to someone needs to be workable when they get it.

If it needs to be usable when they get it, send it as an attachment to an
email or put it on a floppy disk.

CDs are write-once, read-many devices. You can write to them once. That's
it.

If you send a file on a CD and even if your recipient only wants to read the
CD with Word or Excel, those program will assume that writing is desired and
fail to open a file on a CD. Your correspondent must copy the file on the CD
to his hard drive and change the read-only attribute.

"Rock" wrote:

> "islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> > Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> > 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere
> > I
> > can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find
> > any
> > help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> > anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> > workable when they get it.
>
> All the person who receives it needs to do is copy it to their computer and
> then edit it with the same software program.
>
> It sounds like even though you are using a CD-RW disk you are not creating a
> writeable CD. To create a writeable CD packet writing software needs to be
> installed on the system and the person who receives has to have the same
> software.
>
> --
> Rock [MS-MVP]

Thanks much. I tried this, by copying to my own computer and was able to
work with the document. I appreciate the quick response. This has been
driving me crazy for a couple years!
>
>

"Jim" wrote:

>
> "islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:451F424A-AF50-4FC1-82ED-7C0293174F5E@microsoft.com...
> > Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> > 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere
> > I
> > can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find
> > any
> > help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> > anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> > workable when they get it.
> It is just recognizing that you burned a CD-R. If you need to be able to
> read and write, then the most portable way is to use a CD-RW.
> Jim
>
>
> Thanks, Jim. I do have CD-RW but was being irritated by the "Read-Only" status on those CD-RW discs. By copying the files to my computer, I could work with them. That will work for me.....the guy that I am sending them to will just have to copy them to his hard drive. I appreciate the quick response!

"islandgirl62" <islandgirl62@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:451F424A-AF50-4FC1-82ED-7C0293174F5E@microsoft.com...
> Why,when I burn a data disc, does it put the Excel or Word document into a
> 'Read-Only' format? Is there a way to stop this? I've looked everywhere
> I
> can think to see if something is checked that causes it, but can't find
> any
> help. I was told by someone that I needed CD-RW discs, which I have. Can
> anybody help me? The data I need to forward on to someone needs to be
> workable when they get it.

If you are burning the CD by using one of the many CD burning utilities,
then this is by design.

When CD ROMs first appeared the 'yellow book' specification required that
the read only flag be set on the CD. This has flowed through into every
subsequent specification up to ISO-9660 and beyond. This has been a
nuisance ever since because, as you note, the read only flag is copied
across if you copy the file off the CD. It wasn't necessary because the CD
is a read only medium anyway. There are 2 solutions to your problem.

1. Reset the read only flag when you copy the file (this can get impractical
if you copy a large number of files).

2. Create the CD using 'Packet Incremental Format' using the likes of Nero's
'InCD' or Roxio's 'Drag-to-Disc'. Since the disc (and the file) are
writable in this format, the read only flag does not get set. Note that
InCD does not support CD-R unlike Drag-to-Disc which does.