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
    2011-03-14T13:42:36+00:00

    I have been working on a novel for many months with no problems saving files. Recently, I have been having a problem saving the file, using Windows 7 with Office 2007. I try to save the file, but get the error "This file is read-only", while nothing in properties indicates that to be the case. I then change the file name to save, delete the old file, then rename a file back to the old name. I can save it a few times, before it acts up again, but this is nuts. It waste time.

    Any ideas on how to fix? I have ordered Office 2010, but from the comments that program might have similar problems.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-03-26T17:47:01+00:00

    Like others who have posted here, my files which have been saved as 2010 Word files and opened using Word 2010 (all on the same computer) are opening as Temporary Read Only files in Compatibility Mode.  I have looked and looked for something that will stop this from happening but so far I haven't found any setting or comand that is making this happen.  Is it a bug?

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-03-30T19:01:01+00:00

    I've experienced that same glitch sometimes with docx. files. The easiest workaround so far has been to copy and paste the data into a new document. But it's a pain.

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