# MS Word is suddenly Read Only. Need answer fast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171 "2023-05-17T15:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/1 "2023-05-17T15:18:05Z")
I’ve saved several .docx files as boilerplates so that I don’t have to enter the same information every time. Apparently I accidentally clicked something, somewhere, so now everything is Read Only. This is not only for a specific boilerplate document, but also with another couple of documents I opened as tests. How can I edit my own documents (i.e., turn off Read Only)? The only thing I see is in Info, where Always Open In Read Only is not turned on (I think). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/2 "2023-05-17T15:21:09Z")
Copy/paste into a new document and save that doc. CTRL+A in the original document and then CTRL+C in the new doc. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/3 "2023-05-17T15:21:10Z")
I think I had this happen to me a couple of weeks ago, turned out I accidently put the document in presentation mode. Might want to check that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/4 "2023-05-17T15:24:03Z")
Make sure it’s not Windows making it read-only at the file level, or (shudder) the disk hasn’t become read-only because of input/output errors (i.e., failing storage device). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/5 "2023-05-17T15:30:03Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Copy/paste into a new document and save that doc. > > CTRL+A in the original document and then CTRL+C in the new doc. Just tried that. Not all of the text boxes came through. Also, the new document (such as it is) is read-only when I open it after saving it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/6 "2023-05-17T15:32:39Z")
If there is not fancy formatting you care about try to copy/paste into Notepad. Or Notepad++ (which is way better…and free). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/7 "2023-05-17T15:33:18Z")
The formatting is necessary. It’s a form that has text boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/8 "2023-05-17T15:34:03Z")
Save As then…that usually makes it your doc. Unless someone password protected it (I am unsure how that works with Word docs). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/9 "2023-05-17T15:36:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Save As then…that usually makes it your doc. I did that. It still opens as read-only. I hate to get IT Support involved, but I may have to. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/10 "2023-05-17T15:37:20Z")
If password protected try this: > [Remove a password from a document - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/remove-a-password-from-a-document-6c0b8d92-567d-4199-8e3d-9cd7dc400aec) Or try this: > **Step 1.** Open Microsoft word and click on the File tab in the top left corner. > > **Step 2.** Click Open and select Browse to choose the file you want to open as copy. > > **Step 3.** Click the inverted triangle icon behind the Open button and choose the “Open as Copy”. > > - [SOURCE](https://www.easeus.com/backup-utility/how-to-make-a-copy-of-a-word-document.html#open_as_copy) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/11 "2023-05-17T15:42:45Z")
OK, I may have stumbled onto something. I opened the file I’d saved as ‘Test’. In the View tab, I saw Edit Document. I tried that, and was able to edit. I’ve only tried a couple of files, but it _looks_ like I can edit anything now. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate MS programs? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/12 "2023-05-17T15:48:08Z")
What I found works is to right click on the file in File Explorer, click Properties on the bottom. At the bottom of the dialog box should be an area labeled Attributes. Uncheck the read-only box then click apply. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/13 "2023-05-17T16:01:51Z")
Thanks **racer72**. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/14 "2023-05-17T19:47:11Z")
You can also change multiple files that way, press Ctrl + A to select all files, then right click & change attribute. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/15 "2023-05-17T20:01:17Z")
In addition to **racer72** ’s solid advice (which I also had to do) This has been happening to me: there’s an update that adjusted the Trust Center settings. It had re-checked by default from my _ **do not use your ridiculous hypervigilant settings for files originating on my own damp personal computer** _ to ‘you can look, but you cannot touch.’ Once I went through and reset everything in a blank document, and everything went back to behaving normally. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/16 "2023-05-17T22:52:30Z")
Something similar happened to a friend recently, because they had somehow logged out of their Microsoft account, so Word couldn’t find the appropriate license, and would only open things read-only. Once they logged in by clicking the account icon (maybe in the upper right corner?) then everything started working again. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/17 "2023-05-17T23:21:15Z")
If you lose your MS-Office license you could try downloading [Open Office](https://www.openoffice.org/download/) which is free. It will open MS-Office files although it may not do so perfectly. Worth a try though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/18 "2023-05-17T23:45:59Z")
I think the OP’s issue is connected to the “mark of the internet” and the trust center settings. Which update regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/19 "2023-05-18T00:04:40Z")
One thing to check - Documents have a 255 character limit for filenames, INCLUDING the drive letter, path and folder. If you exceed the character limit, you can sometimes SAVE the document with that name, but you can’t open it again. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171/20 "2023-05-18T00:18:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The formatting is necessary. It’s a form that has text boxes. Did you create the form? Word has the ability to protect a form such that the only editing possible is text entry into the form. I seem to recall that the developer can also inadvertently protect everything in the form such that nothing is editable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-is-suddenly-read-only-need-answer-fast/984171.md?page=2)