Word Always Opens Documents In Read-Only Mode / Subscription

Documents attached to an email message will open in Protected Mode unless:

1. You save the attached document to the local drive and then in the File Explorer, you right click on it and select Properties and then check the "Unblock" box.
2. In Word, you have gone to File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Protected View and you have unchecked the boxes for the Enabling of Protected View.  Note that, if you do that, you should be sure that you can trust the sender of the documents to not send you a document that may contain a virus or malware.

The Blue across the top clearly says Read Mode.

Microsoft Support said that ALL word documents attached to emails ALL open in Read Only mode.

There is they said no turn off switch.

Well, the person you talked to got it wrong. The option I mentioned previously prevents documents from opening in Read Mode (which in Word 2013 and 2016 means the view where you can't edit files and where you see File, Tools, and View on the ribbon).

When you say you "close word" what do you exactly mean?

Close the word document, which only closes the Read Only document, or to close the whole Word program which would also close all Word documents I am working on?

The Blue across the top clearly says Read Mode.

Microsoft Support said that ALL word documents attached to emails ALL open in Read Only mode.

There is they said no turn off switch.

We are trying to help you fix the problem But if you ignore our suggestions there is not much we can do.

Your Word installations are not working "normally". Normally files do not get set to read only. But there are a couple of situations where they do, "to protect you from yourself" ... We have to identify one of those places from the information you provide us.

We need you to tell us as much as possible about the problem so that hopefully some point or another will trigger a memory to identify a cause for the problem. But you constantly whining "...just let me control it..." is not going to get you anywhere.

Did you check the "Protected View" setting that Stefan suggested. Although this would cause a slightly different symptom that you could bypass, it is worth checking.

While you are in the Trust Center, also take a look in the File Block Settings option. These settings are intended for older file formats, so I doubt they are your problem.

Also take a look at the "Trusted Locations" option. These are locations that word considers it safe to open files from.

Does the read only problem happen to files that never leave your computer? Is it only associated with files you have passed around for editing by other people?

And do the safe mode test too!