How to allow "Open in Excel" but not "Edit in Excel"

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Posted on by TH-06051442-0

Using D365 version 22.3.58346.58475 and it appears that there is not a simple way to allow a user to OPEN in excel but NOT EDIT.

I have tested with the EDIT IN EXCEL - VIEW permission set and it's all or nothing, you get both options (open and edit) or none without it.

There is another forum article that seems to imply that the EXCEL EXPORT ACTION may be the right permission set but it actually includes the EDIT IN EXCEL - VIEW set. https://community.dynamics.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=1e7e2d09-c324-4c87-916a-8823ab281cca

What am I missing here? Seems like I wouldn't be the only one to want such an option?

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Inge M. Bruvik 1,153 Moderator on at

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Maybe not 100% what you are looking for but to use the centralized deployment of the Excel-AddIn might help you.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave2/smb/dynamics365-business-central/centralized-deployment-office-add-ins

And you can always register an idea to suggest a more granular way to control these permissions.

https://aka.ms/dynamicsideas

What is the reasoning behind giving a user permission to modify data but not allowing it to happen through Excel?

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YUN ZHU 97,855 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi, hope the following helps.

Dynamics 365 Business Central: How to allow Open in Excel but not Edit in Excel (Prohibit the use of Edit in Excel)

https://yzhums.com/40901/

Thanks

ZHU

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TH-06051442-0 10 on at

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Thanks ZHU for taking the time to create a blog entry just for my question, I really appreciate it!!

I would like to use the first method with perms but no matter how I setup my new permission set (copy...by reference/flat/clone) and exclude the code unit 1488, it doesn't produce the results that you documented. I have found permissions to take affect right away, I can get the "open in excel" and "edit in excel" options to show up/not show up by just refreshing the page after changes. Am I not waiting long enough?

Any other thoughts on what I may not be doing correctly?

Inge, thanks for the info! I will register the idea and the reasoning behind it is we are concerned about user error making changes to BC that weren't intended.

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SimeonW 126 on at

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Same issue, please vote. https://experience.dynamics.com/ideas/idea/?ideaid=01febe9d-6c3c-ee11-a81c-6045bdb6c2ac

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TH-06051442-0 10 on at

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SimeonW, I also found this one that I voted for...

https://experience.dynamics.com/ideas/idea/?ideaid=4419b15f-4572-ed11-a770-0003ff45af7c

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YUN ZHU 97,855 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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When using the exclude function, remember not to assign other permissions, because the system will fetch the collection.

For example my test:

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

ZHU

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TH-06051442-0 10 on at

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ZHU, I think I found it...I am using security groups with multiple permission sets within. I went through one by one and found codeunit 1488 included in the "D365 Basic" permission set. I really only included this set because I couldn't figure out the minimum perms needed to just login and I thought this was the one. Apparently, it's too permissive for what I would like...I tried the LOGIN one and still get errors on login, I also have AUTOMATE - EXEC and LOCAL. Do you have any documentation on this piece? My google skills are failing me in all things BC but now that I found this forum...maybe I can find the answer to this as well! Again, I appreciate you taking the time to help me!!

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CU05050811-0 2 on at

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It appears you're encountering a challenge with Microsoft Dynamics 365 here is version 22.3.58346.58475 where there isn't a straightforward method to allow users to open Excel files without granting them editing permissions. You've tested the "EDIT IN EXCEL - VIEW" permission set, but it seems to only offer an all-or-nothing solution, providing both open and edit permissions or none at all.

You've come across a forum thread that suggests the "EXCEL EXPORT ACTION" permission set might be suitable, but upon testing, you've found that it also includes the "EDIT IN EXCEL - VIEW" set, thus not meeting your requirements.

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