Word Docs/Excel Opening as Read Only after MS Update

Anonymous

Team after this weeks update from Microsoft all my Word and Excel documents that I create save fine, but when I open them they open in Read only mode. I have to keep performing a save as with a new file name to get by the issue. I also get an error that I had not received before when opening some older Word and Excel documents. The error reads "There was a problem sending the command to the program". I click on OK and the error goes away and the document opens, but again in Read only mode. HELP....

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Anonymous

Hi,

As I understand when you save and open the document, the documents open in read only mode and you also receive an error message while opening the documents. Let me assist you with the issue.

Follow the steps mentioned and check if it helps:

Step 1: Check if Office applications are running in compatibility mode:

· Browse to the location mentioned below:

For Win7 32 bit:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\ClentX86 \Root\Office15

For Win7 64 bit:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\ClientX64\Root\Office15

· Right click on WINWORD.EXE< Properties< Compatibility

· Uncheck the box Run this Program in Compatibility Mode, ensure you also click on the option change settings for all users tab at the bottom of the same screen

· Click on Apply and Ok.

· Open Word and check if it works.

Note: If Word works fine then follow the above steps for Excel applications (EXCEL.EXE)

Step 2: Check the option to save the Word or Excel files in read only mode is check:

· Open Word document.

· Click on File< Save As< Browse to the location where you want to save the file.

· Click on arrow mark pointing downwards next to Tools and click on General Options.

· Ensure the option Read-only recommended is unchecked and click Ok.

· Now try to save the document, re-pen the saved document and check.

Step 3: Repair Office 2013 installation:

If the above steps do not fix the issue then repair Office 2013 installation and check. Refer the link mentioned to repair Office 2013 installation:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/project-help/repair-or-remove-office-HA010357402.aspx

I hope the above suggestion helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

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51 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-04-28T17:51:10+00:00

Since migrating from XP to Win 7 & 8.1, we are now having issues similar to JMACCS SVCS's on my laptop (OS8.1) and desktop (OS7) with Excel 07 (haven't checked if with Word also) with some *.xlsx files opening either in 'Compatibility Mode' or 'Read only'. These are files that we routinely edit, update with new data, and/or email back and forth.

Occurrence of the issue was more occasional on the desktop w/ Win 7, but is now a major problem on my laptop on which recently installed 8.1 OS. Actually all seemed fine (Except that I can no longer find my Office 07 Suite programs in the explorer file tree?) until the most recent MS auto-updates.

Oddly, the issue seems either intermittent or only associates with specific files and only on our machines running Win 7 or later (others of our staff still using XP and receiving the same email-attached file seem to have no problem w/ opening/saving). Have checked 'Properties/Security' on several files, but 'Read Only' attribute is not checked on any. My work requires routinely working with large numbers of these files, which makes the "Save as . . . " w/ another file name and then reopening extremely problematic. For portability, all my data files are kept on an external drive (which I have done for years) and never had an issue (at least with XP).

Is there a 'blanket' security feature or setting (or glitch) in 7 or particularly 8.1 causing this and how can we fix?
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Anonymous

2014-10-15T14:24:38+00:00

After the 10/14/2014 patch Tuesday updates (Win 8.1) all my Word 2013 documents are now read only. This includes all new documents after they are saved. The suggested settings change posted on this blog do not exist in Word 2013/Win 8.1, which appears to handle settings differently.

However, I have an obnoxious workaround that allows me to edit my .docx documents - at the risk of damaging their formatting. My documents are in the Documents folder, which is shared with a guest Ubuntu Linux 14.04 virtual machine.

Ubuntu's LibreOffice will open and edit the MS Word documents. This being the case, Microsoft's making the documents read only is nothing more than a user harassment that provides no protection whatsoever.

BTW, when a document is edited and saved by LibreOffice it is still read only in Word 2013.
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Anonymous

2014-07-16T01:22:02+00:00

Thanks Brandon. It turns out my issue was a trial version of Office 2007, which I didn't want and never used, but it kept corrupting Office 2013 each time the monthly Microsoft updates were issued.

I finally received some good advice from the Community which said to first uninstall Office 2013, then uninstall Office 2007 (and everything associated with it ...there's a Microsoft program you can run to help do that), and then reinstall Office 2013. I did that and finally, my issues with documents (Word, Excel, P/Point etc.) becoming "read only" after the monthly updates was resolved. PHEW!!!
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Anonymous

2014-07-15T23:24:39+00:00

I had this same issue after doing a Microsoft Update. I did a system restore and I said forget the update. Now everything works fine.
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