Error message - "Unable to open document - protection setting applied prevented it from opening"

[peterhui51]

Hi all,

I was using Power BI this morning on a file that's on my share, I got an error message and it says the below

It seems like it's a straight forward error message and it's likely due to the sensitivity label that's applied to the file, the odd thing is this file already has a medium sensitivity label for the past few months and there was nothing wrong with it. Everyone on the team was able to open it. Then this morning for some reason it can't.

We reached out to the person that applies the label and they said they didn't do anything different and didn't touch the labelling.

Any idea what might cause this? is this some sort of bug?

thanks!

Peter

[v-zhangti · Accepted solution]

Hi, @peterhui51 

The error message "Unable to open document - protection setting applied prevented it from opening" usually occurs when the document is protected by a password or some other security settings that prevent it from being opened. It is not a bug, but rather a security feature to prevent unauthorized access to the document. However, in your case, you were using Power BI on a file that's on your share and got the error message. This could be due to several reasons such as file corruption, network issues, or permission issues. You can try the following steps to resolve the issue:

• Check if the file is password-protected. If it is, enter the correct password to open it.
• Check if the file is encrypted. If it is, you may need to decrypt it before you can open it.
• Check if the file is marked as read-only. If it is, you may need to change the file properties to make it editable.
• Check if the file is blocked by your antivirus software or firewall. If it is, you may need to temporarily disable them to open the file.
• Check if you have the necessary permissions to access the file. If you don't, contact the file owner or administrator to grant you the necessary permissions

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

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