unable to upload Password protected files(Word, Excel) to the SP2013 Doc lib

Question

We are unable to upload Password protected files(Word, Excel) to the SP2013 document library.

When uploading a password protected file, the upload dialog just times out and displays the 'This Page can't be displayed' error.

There are no issues uploading normal files without the password.

We have tried to add the registry entry mentioned in this article but it doesn't solve the issue - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41096895/cannot-upload-password-protected-docx-to-sharepoint-2013?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa

Are there any other solutions we can try to solve this issue?

Answer 1

Have you tried removing the password protection, upload file, then reinstate password protection?

Although with Sharepoint, assuming it's managed correctly(!), you can remove the need for password protection on individual files. Instead the protection is managed through the use of Sharepoint Groups.

If only one user is allowed access to a group of files. Make a new document library and customise the permissions for that document library. This will involve 'breaking the inheritance' for that document library; you can then customise it - i.e. remove the standard user groups that can normally access other document libraries on that site.

Further reading

Link1 - Sharepoint Maven, one of my favourite blogs.

Link2 - same site

Link3 - Bobby Chang, Permissions Worst Practises.

Link4 - Microsoft, Understanding Permissions Levels in Sharepoint.

Link 5 - Microsoft, detailed break-down of out-of-the-box Permissions groups. Useful as a resource for when you are having doubts about what a 'read only' or 'read-write' permission does.