Powershell ignore "Read Only" request and open without read only

There should be a IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended argument that you can supply in the workbook open method:

$workBook = $excelObj.Workbooks.Open($latest,,,,,,$True,,,,,,,) 

Workbooks.Open Method (MSDN)

Edit

Based on comments below, it appears that there is a bug preventing this method from working when the $null parameters are supplied. Thanks to this answer on another question it appears there may be a way around this:

1st, this function is required:

Function Invoke-NamedParameter { [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName = "Named")] param( [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Named", Position = 0, Mandatory = $true)] [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Positional", Position = 0, Mandatory = $true)] [ValidateNotNull()] [System.Object]$Object , [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Named", Position = 1, Mandatory = $true)] [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Positional", Position = 1, Mandatory = $true)] [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()] [String]$Method , [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Named", Position = 2, Mandatory = $true)] [ValidateNotNull()] [Hashtable]$Parameter , [Parameter(ParameterSetName = "Positional")] [Object[]]$Argument ) end { ## Just being explicit that this does not support pipelines if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq "Named") { ## Invoke method with parameter names ## Note: It is ok to use a hashtable here because the keys (parameter names) and values (args) ## will be output in the same order. We don't need to worry about the order so long as ## all parameters have names $Object.GetType().InvokeMember($Method, [System.Reflection.BindingFlags]::InvokeMethod, $null, ## Binder $Object, ## Target ([Object[]]($Parameter.Values)), ## Args $null, ## Modifiers $null, ## Culture ([String[]]($Parameter.Keys)) ## NamedParameters ) } else { ## Invoke method without parameter names $Object.GetType().InvokeMember($Method, [System.Reflection.BindingFlags]::InvokeMethod, $null, ## Binder $Object, ## Target $Argument, ## Args $null, ## Modifiers $null, ## Culture $null ## NamedParameters ) } } } 

Which would suggest the Workbooks.Open() method could be called like so:

$workBook = Invoke-NamedParameter $excelObj "Workbooks.Open" @{"FileName"=$latest;"IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended"=$True} 

If your looking to just open the file for reading and ignore the prompt then this works:

$workBook = $excelObj.Workbooks.Open($latest,$null,$true) 

The 3rd argument denotes true to open read-only. This approach does not appear to be subject to the aforementioned bug!