Word 2007 and 2010 open files read only

Anonymous
2010-07-04T20:57:05+00:00

I have word 2003 files that I am now opening with word 2010 (recently upgraded from 2007).  All existing files open as read only and I can't save them.  Even newer docx files.  How do I solve this?

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Anonymous
2012-05-23T10:45:37+00:00

One cause of this problem can be the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer.

If you try to open a Word file via Windows Explorer and you have the Preview Pane open the first thing that will happen is that the preview window will start reading the file to display the preview of that file, in the meantime Word itself will also start reading the file. Sometimes  the two process will conflict and Word will determine that it can't open the file for editing because the file is locked (by the preview window) and therefore Word will open the document as read-only. Large files and files with certain types of content can cause the file to be locked by the preview pane.

If this is the scenario that is causing your problem either disable the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer or open the file from within Word via File|Open.

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-07-04T21:14:13+00:00

From where are you opening the files?  Are they on a CD or were they copied to a CD and then onto the Hard Disk?  If so, the Read Only attribute of the files will have been set.  You can uncheck it by selecting the files (multiple is OK) and then right click and select Properties.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-09-12T13:56:40+00:00

    Why is this post clearly marked as using office 2010 posted in the Mac office 2016 forum. I had misgiving about the forum redesign and voiced my concerns. I see my concerns were right on.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-12T13:28:22+00:00

    You can't copy and paste.  It's read only.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-08T06:26:35+00:00

    I accidently must have pressed Alt. K. That combo toggles the viewing pane on and off.

    A few days ago I was in the middle of working on Word files, took a break, and when I came back noticed the viewing pane for the first time. ****, but figured I had just ignored it up until now and it seemed helpful (stress of working too hard and getting back to work in a hurry). When I opened my first Word file, it opened in read only mode even though the file properties read only box was clear! All my work for a year was opening in read only mode, I went crazy and forgot about the preview pane.

    People told me to reset the read only properties of the top folder. It fooled me, it looked liked it had worked, but then every time I checked the folder was reset to read only, and when I tried to open a Word file it was read only again, it was driving me crazy.

    The next day I found one file that opened ok and from that one I could open files and it would let me open and save it in edit mode, but I could not open it from the folder.

    Now I think that a folder file is always set to read only and the viewing pane popping up was always the problem.

    I figured out the viewing pane was the problem and how to turn it off but windows help was of no help in finding the toggle command, I finally found it on a forum post, thank you whoever it was! Somehow my fingers press Alt K on the keyboard. I think I was trying to press the windows key and another combo and my fingers were offset.

    Best Buys Geek squad couldn't figure it out, nobody in my community could.

    Good luck. G

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