Export to Spreadsheet Error The [column name] is a read only column that cannot be modified

Its been a couple of weeks of Sharepoint issues for me. One of my SP developers came to us this week with an error when they export lists to Excel for updating. When selecting Actions > Export to Spreadsheet on the list if they try to enter data in any cell they received the following error.





We could Edit in Datasheet view without any issue so permissions did not seem to be the issue. This feature was previously working and I was not able to find a definitive answer however I believe that this error may be related to Office 2003 with SP3. This was a fairly recent change in our company. The workaround that works for us is to Edit in datasheet mode and then select the link to Excel to gain the features.

Select the list you want to edit > Select Actions > Edit in Datasheet > Once the datasheet view opens > Select Actions Task Pane > In the Office Links on the right select Export and Link to Excel. This should open in Excel and allow you to edit the list as per normal.

Further Information: -

A hotfix was released for Office 2003 SP3 to resolve this error.

Description of the Office 2003 hotfix package: May 21, 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952608