Is is possible to launch excel in readonly mode from Powershell

Question

I use Invoke-Item "some-file.xlsx" to launch Excel and open a file. Now I would like to open this file in read only mode. It this possible from PowerShell?

To clearify, I am not looking to open the Excel sheet and read data from it to the PowerShell script, the script is intended to help the user finding a file and opening it.

Answer 1

Invoke-item only allows the default action for a file.
To open the file as read only, either:

• Set read-only attribute on file, launch file, unset read-only attribute,

  attrib +r "some-file.xlsx"
  Invoke-Item "some-file.xlsx"
  attrib -r "some-file.xlsx"
  

or

• Invoke excel directly, and pass /r as the command file

  $xl = (Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCR:\Applications\EXCEL.EXE\Shell\OpenAsReadOnly\command).'(default)'
  $fle = '"some-file.xlsx"'
  & $xl $fle
  

check Executing a Command stored in a Variable from Powershell to get a syntax that works for you