How do I turn off READ ONLY permanently???

Anonymous
2016-10-02T07:44:44+00:00

I'm sick of office locking my files to Read Only.

I have files I use all the time in my one drive folder, I'll open one and word decides it is Read Only and to make a change I need to save it as a new name.

I email a file to my wife to read, she makes changes and emails it back...now its Read Only.

How do disable this frustrating crap interfering with my workflow?  It's making me crazy!!!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-10-07T14:07:19+00:00

    You can sign in to OneDrive without using the local (synchronized) OneDrive folder as a storage location. My question was if doing so is working better for you.

    As an alternative, you can save files locally and manually upload them to OneDrive as needed. Of course, that would be a workaround.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-10-11T02:11:50+00:00

    Hi Stefan,

    I have a Local "One Drive" folder on my PC, I open my files from there, One Drive should keep a copy of anything in that folder on the cloud.

    Today I opened one of my files stored in the one drive folder on my PC,

    Word thinks, and thinks and thinks some more...my coffee is going cold, then I get this:

    I check "Remember" then click OK

    Word thinks again   ZZZZZzzzzzzz!

    Then it opens my file (READ ONLY)(PROTECTED MODE)

    Then it gives me this message:

    I have not edited the file, the file is from my PC, It's my file, there is no "Someone", I'm the only person who has access, it is not a shared file.

    So, Close the File, Close word, START AGAIN.

    I'm sick of this flaw in One Drive and Office!  These are my files and I want control back. So back to the original question: How do I turn this Microsoft BIG BROTHER interference off? These are my files, I want to be the entity that decides what is read only and what is not.

    Regards

    Chris

    .

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  3. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-10-12T11:49:56+00:00

    What you are describing is some sort of a synchronizing problem which should have been fixed by recent Office updates.

    In Word, if you look in the upper right corner, do you see your user name for your OneDrive account there? In other words, are you signed in to OneDrive from within Word? If so, see if you can access OneDrive folders directly via File | Open, that is, without using the local OneDrive folder.

    Alternatively, edit files locally (and, of course, keep them outside of the OneDrive folder) and then upload them manually to OneDrive.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-10-13T01:33:57+00:00

    Hi Stefan,

    Yes, I'm signed in in word and excel. I sign in to my Microsoft account as part of my PC start-up every day.

    Uploading manually is not the way it is supposed to work...One Drive is supposed to do that itself. That's really an unsophisticated workaround.

    Yesterday, I went through every folder on my PC and unchecked the "Read only applies to this folder" in the properties for every folder.......look at it now and EVERY folder has "Read only applies to this folder" checked again! Why the **** can't Microsoft give control back to the User????? I NEVER want to see READ ONLY....NEVER EVER!!!!

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  5. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-10-14T06:06:05+00:00

    As I said, clearly something is wrong. But, for testing purposes, could you confirm that you are able to access your OneDrive documents by navigating to the online location for OneDrive OR by uploading them manually?

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