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
    2015-08-02T16:26:44+00:00

    See:

    http://word.mvps.org/faqs/AppErrors/LockedFiles.htm

    The first line from this site reads:

    Obsolete Article: The way Windows Desktop Search operates has changed.  If you are using a modern version of Windows, the techniques described in this article will not work.

    I just installed Windows 10 and suddenly my Office Word  and Access 2007 files are "read only". I've gone through all the options above and haven't been able to resolve the problem.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-02T23:16:06+00:00

    In Word, use File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Protected View and see if unchecking the first three boxes makes any difference.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-19T07:36:54+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.

    Thanks this is what solved it for me...

    This was from the preview pane being enabled inside File|Open via word btw, this was also occurring on PowerPoint as well and same solution resolved this.

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