You may receive a "Cannot update. Database or object is read-only" error message when you use the TransferSpreadsheet action (304146)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office Access 2003
Microsoft Access 2002

This article was previously published under Q304146

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article applies to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb) and to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).

SYMPTOMS

When you run a macro that uses the TransferSpreadsheet action to export a table or query to the Microsoft Excel file format, you receive the following error message:

Cannot update. Database or object is read-only.

CAUSE

This error message occurs when one of the following conditions is true:

The file name is surrounded with quotation marks, for example "C:\Employees.xls".
A carriage return/line feed (CTRL+ENTER) is at the end of the file name in the FileName property.

RESOLUTION

To avoid this error message, when you set the FileName property, insert only the path to the file that you want to export. Do not surround the path with quotation marks or end the line with a carriage return/line feed.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

On the Help menu, point to Sample Databases, and then click Northwind Sample Database.

Create a new macro called TestOutput as follows:

   Action: Transferspreadsheet
   Transfer Type: Export
   Spreadsheet Type: Microsoft Excel 8-10
   Table Name: Employees
   File Name: C:\Employees.xls (insert a carriage return/line feed at the 
              end of this line by pressing CTRL+ENTER)
   Has field names: No

REFERENCES

For additional information about another cause of this error message, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

295200 ACC2002: "Cannot Update. Database or Object Is Read-Only" Error When You Convert an Uncompiled, Read-only Database

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	6/9/2004
Keywords:	kbhowto kberrmsg kbprb KB304146