diff --git a/R/outpack_root.R b/R/outpack_root.R
index f075aec7..973664b0 100644
--- a/R/outpack_root.R
+++ b/R/outpack_root.R
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ file_export <- function(root, id, there, here, dest, overwrite, call = NULL) {
     }
     fs::file_copy(there_full, here_full, overwrite)
   }
+
+  # Files in the archive and file store are (generally) read-only.
+  # When exporting for interactive use, it's easier on the user if we make them
+  # writable again.
+  fs::file_chmod(here_full, "u+w")
 }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-outpack-helpers.R b/tests/testthat/test-outpack-helpers.R
index 191cd13b..634f76fb 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-outpack-helpers.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-outpack-helpers.R
@@ -157,3 +157,33 @@ test_that("good error message if file not found in packet", {
       i = "For 'd.txt' did you mean 'a.txt', 'b.txt' or 'c.txt'",
       i = "Remember that all orderly paths are case sensitive"))
 })
+
+
+test_that("Can overwrite when copying files from packet", {
+  root <- create_temporary_root(use_file_store = TRUE)
+
+  id1 <- create_random_packet(root)
+  id2 <- create_random_packet(root)
+
+  # Just a bit of a sanity check. The two packets are random, so we'd expect
+  # them to have different contents.
+  expect_false(identical(
+    readRDS(file.path(root$path, "archive", "data", id1, "data.rds")),
+    readRDS(file.path(root$path, "archive", "data", id2, "data.rds"))))
+
+  dst <- temp_file()
+
+  suppressMessages(
+    orderly_copy_files(id1, files = "data.rds", dest = dst, root = root))
+
+  expect_identical(
+    readRDS(file.path(dst, "data.rds")),
+    readRDS(file.path(root$path, "archive", "data", id1, "data.rds")))
+
+  suppressMessages(
+    orderly_copy_files(id2, files = "data.rds", dest = dst, root = root))
+
+  expect_identical(
+    readRDS(file.path(dst, "data.rds")),
+    readRDS(file.path(root$path, "archive", "data", id2, "data.rds")))
+})