Bob & Ashwin I was reading this: Hi,
I'm upgrading computers from my very old MacBook (12 years old) to a newer iMac (I'm now running Yosemite 10.10.5). I'm in the process of transferring all my data and documents to this iMac but I have had some problems I've yet to solve. I used the Mac utility Migration Assistant to accomplish the document transfer but not with resounding success.
I have a lot of business files that are documents using TextEdit, usually between one and five paragraphs (one-pagers). I add to or update these files from time to time, fairly regularly as part of my business. It seemed on my old MacBook if a file was opened within the last month, I could open, edit and re-save normally, without doing anything special. However, if it was a file that I had not opened recently (longer than a month, or so) then my computer would prompt me with a dialog box, asking for my password first, then allow me to open, edit and re-save as I saw fit to do. Now, on this iMac with the very same files brought over via Migration Assistant, I get a very different behavior. I get a dialog box saying I'm not authorized to make any changes and I cannot open or edit any of these files but I do have the option of making a duplicate file which I can edit. However, after a few weeks I'll have 10 or 12 duplicate files none of which will have the complete data I need so this is unacceptable. I need to have access, to get into these files.
When I got this iMac, from a generous friend (all her data and documents had been wiped clean here/transferred to her current computer), I first re-set the master password, next, I made myself the administrator with another password. None of these have helped me gain editing access to my files and data. I've explored preferences in both the Apple menu and the TextEdit menu without any success. There must be a way to let the administrator use and gain access to these files but what is it?
I should add that I'm not a power user, I used computers minimally, email and some business correspondence and data saving. Also, I'm the only one who uses this computer (as is also true of my former MacBook). I live alone, it's my home computer and no one else has access to this machine.
Any ideas on how to unlock my documents would be greatly appreciated,
Bob M.
This was in another post here under "Apple Desktops" switching over to iMac - file problems. Sorry for not knowing how to point to it easier.