SharePoint Datasheet Mode - “The selected cells are read-only”
If you have worked with datasheet mode in SharePoint you’ll appreciate how easy it is to copy and paste data from Excel into SharePoint lists. One message I often hear users complain about is “the selected cells are read-only”. It seems that all is going well when suddenly SharePoint stops accepting pasted values and throws this message. A common reason for this message is a problem with some of the previously pasted values. Although this is hard to see in the interface, if you look in the lower left corner of the datasheet grid you might see a ‘pending changes’ message next to a yellow diamond. If you click on this you’ll be presented with an interface for data resolution (this might happen, for example, if you are trying to put a value in a choice field that does not exist as an option). Once all issues are resolved, happy pasting continues. I know the message is not the most obvious one but, at least in this case, it is appropriate.