The document could not be opened for editing

When opening a document from a SharePoint library on a specific site collection, I am receiving the following error.

 "The document could not be opened for editing. A Microsoft SharePoint Foundation compatible application could not be found to edit the document"

Multiple resolutions:

1)   Make sure you are using IE 32 bit. IE 64 bit is not fully compatible with SharePoint

2)   Go to the document library's settings, advanced settings and check the settings for Opening Documents in the Browser

3)   If using IE 32 bit, check if "SharePoint OpenDocuments Class" is enabled under Tools -> Manage add-ons

4)   Make sure "Open Documents in Client Applications by Default" feature is activated for the site collection

5)   Try changing "Browser File Handling" of the web application to "Permissive"

6)   Try adding the SharePoint site to the Trusted Sites zone of the browser

7)   Check this- http://sharepointknowledgebase.blogspot.com/2013/10/edit-document-requires-windows.html

8)   Make sure the client integration is enabled in central administration

If you have any queries/questions/confusion regarding the above mentioned points then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

The document could not be opened for editing. A Windows SharePoint Services compatible application could not be found to edit the document.

One of the user from my project reported that he was not able to edit as well as check out the office documents. When i tried to follow the same procedure (i.e. Edit, check-in, check-out) and strange thing was me also got the same error message. When i started my troubleshooting, I found out user created document library with multiple nested folders.

When we go to third or fourth level of the folder and try to edit any file with office application, we are getting an error – The document could not be opened for editing. A Windows SharePoint Services compatible application could not be found to edit the document. However if we try to edit the document uploaded on the root of the document library, we can edit it properly.

I tried reproduced the issue 2-3 times and found out one common thing and that is: You cannot edit the office document once the URL path reaches characters limit 340. You can edit the documents only till URL path length is up to 339 characters. You can open the documents, you can upload documents but you can't edit them by right click on document and click on "edit in Microsoft Word". Even this behavior is same with non-office documents also like text documents.

Workaround:

The only workaround possible is - open the file directly from the folder, modify and save it as a new file. Every time you need to save it as a new file. It won’t allow to save in the existing file. Or, Move the file one level up and you will be able to do all the operations like edit, check-in and check-out too.

I hope the above information helps you to resolve your problem and time also!! Thanks!!