Google: "The file is view-only. No edits can be made to this file. Contact file owner for details."

google google-drive restrictions google-forms google-docs access-denied google-drive-files google-sheets access-request google-slides file-ownership google-files view-only google-file-types file-editing

Environment

U-M Google, Google Drive

Issue

I opened a Google file I previously had edit access to and noticed a new banner at the top stating: "The file is view-only. No edits can be made to this file. Contact file owner for details." What does this mean? How do I get edit access again?

Resolution

If you previously had edit access to a file in Google Drive but are now receiving the banner message - "The file is view-only. No edits can be made to this file. Contact file owner for details." - there are two possible reasons why:

The owner has reached their assigned Google storage limit.
The owner is no longer affiliated with the university, so their Google account has been locked and scheduled for permanent deletion (90 days after their last day).

The action you should take depends on whether the owner still has access to their U-M Google account.

If the owner still has access to their account and they've reached their storage limit: Reach out to the file owner and ask them to transfer ownership of the file(s) to you, another active individual at the university, or a Google shared drive.
- If the file owner is still active at the university (i.e., faculty, staff, or student), you can also ask them to reduce their storage usage to restore their files' access to how it was.
  - However, storing files in a shared location such as a Google shared drive is still a good idea to prevent this from happening in the future or when they leave the university.
- If the file owner is unresponsive (such as an alum or retiree), refer to Article ID: 9249 for more information and next steps. You may need to work with your unit's HR to reclaim ownership.
If the owner does not have access to their account because they've left the university (without retaining any affiliation): Follow the steps to reclaim ownership of their files before 90 days post-departure is up.

Banner details

Example of the banner:
- It will look the same in Sheets and Slides, except for the colors (green and yellow, respectively).
Commenters and Viewers on the file will receive the same banner when opening a file they have comment or view access on.
Banners will also appear on Microsoft file types (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) that can be edited using Google Drive's "Office Editing" feature.
No banners or errors show when viewing the following file types:
- Google Sites
  - They can still be edited. However, you'll still want to transfer ownership! (Google Sites only have one owner assigned, and if that owner is no longer at the university, it could be at risk of deletion.)
- Folders
- Images
- Videos
- PDFs
- CSVs
- Google My Map files
- Google Apps Scripts
  - They can still be edited.
Experience with Google Forms is inconsistent.
- For a Form with no file upload question, you can edit the Form (despite the view-only banner) but then receive a warning that changes were not synced.
- For a Form with a file upload question, you cannot make any edits or do anything within the Form itself. You'll receive three warnings: a view-only banner, a “something went wrong” notice, and a “file unavailable” notice.