4 Ways to Remove the 'Read Only' Status on MS Word Documents (2024)

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Written byJack Lloyd

Last Updated: September 25, 2023Fact Checked

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1. 1

   Understand which documents are likely to be protected. Any Microsoft Word document which you download from the Internet (e.g., an email attachment or a file from a website) will have read-only protection assigned to it whenever you open it. You can disable this protection when first opening the document.

2. 2

   Open the Word document. Double-click the Word document for which you want to remove the read-only protection.

   • If the Word document is currently open, close it and re-open it.

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3. 3

   Look for a pale yellow banner. If you see a yellow banner with the phrase "Files from the Internet can contain viruses" written across the top of the Word document, your document qualifies to have its read-only status removed using this method.^[2]

   • If you don't see this banner even after closing and re-opening the Word document, try one of the other methods in this article.
4. 4

   Click Enable Editing. This button should be on the right side of the banner. Doing so will refresh the Word document and remove the read-only protection. You should now be able to edit the document.^[3]

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1. 1

   Open the Word document. Double-click the Word document from which you want to remove the protection. It will open in Word.

2. 2

   Click the Review tab. This tab is in the upper-right corner of the Word window. Doing so opens the Review toolbar at the top of the Word window.

3. 3

   Click Restrict Editing. You'll find this option on the far-right side of the Review toolbar. Clicking it prompts a pop-out menu to appear on the right side of the window.^[4]

4. 4

   Click Stop Protection. It's at the bottom of the pop-out menu. You should see a pop-up window appear at this point.^[5]

   • If you or another user on your computer's account created the protection without a password, clicking Stop Protection will automatically remove the protection.
5. 5

   Enter the password when prompted. Type the document's password into the "Password" text box, then click OK. This will immediately remove the Word document's read-only lock if the password is correct.^[6]

   • If you don't know the password, you'll have to copy and paste the file's contents instead.
6. 6

   Save your changes. Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or ⌘ Command+S (Mac) to do so. From now on, the file won't be read-only protected unless you re-enable editing protection.

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1. 1

   Go to the Word document. Find the folder in which the Word document is stored.

   • If the file isn't actually on your computer (e.g., it's on a flash drive or a CD), move the file onto your computer before proceeding.
2. 2

   Open the Word file's properties. This will vary depending on your computer's operating system:

   • Windows — Click once the Word file, right-click the Word file, and click Properties in the drop-down menu.
   • Mac — Click the Word file, click the File menu item in the top-left side of your Mac's screen, and click Get Info.
3. 3

   Find the "Permissions" section. On a Windows computer, you'll find the proper options in the "Attributes" section near the bottom of the Properties window.

   • On a Mac, you'll have to click the Sharing & Permissions heading near the bottom of the window.
4. 4

   Disable the read-only protection. Again, this process will differ depending on whether you're using Windows or a Mac:^[7]

   • Windows — Uncheck the "Read-only" box near the bottom of the window, click Apply, and click OK.
   • Mac — Click the Read option to the right of your name, then click Read & Write in the menu which appears.
     • You may first have to click the lock in the bottom-left corner of the Get Info window and then enter your Mac's password before you can do this.
   • If this option is greyed out, unchecked, or otherwise not set to "Read-only", you'll have to try copying and pasting instead.
5. 5

   Try to edit the file. Open the Word document by double-clicking it, then try to edit it. Keep in mind that you may first have to remove the online read-only lock before doing so.

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1. 1

   Understand how this works. If your primary goal is to edit the Word document, you can copy the Word document's text and paste it into a new Word document and then save the new document onto your computer. While doing this won't remove the read-only protection from the original document, it will create an editable copy.

2. 2

   Open the protected Word document. Double-click the Word document to do so.

3. 3

   Click anywhere on the document. This will place your mouse cursor on the document's page.

4. 4

   Select the whole document. Press either Ctrl+A (Windows) or ⌘ Command+A (Mac) to do so. You should see the entire document become highlighted.^[8]

5. 5

   Copy the selected text. Press either Ctrl+C (Windows) or ⌘ Command+C (Mac). This will copy the document's text to your computer's clipboard.^[9]

6. See Also

   Read Only Accounts - Identity Management - For universities - Documentation - Switch edu-ID

   6

   Open a new Word document. Click File in the upper-left side of the Word window, click New on the left side of the window, and click Blank document to open a blank Word document.

   • On a Mac, click the File menu item, then click New Blank Document at the top of the drop-down menu.
7. 7

   Paste in the copied text. Press either Ctrl+V (Windows) or ⌘ Command+V (Mac) to paste the locked Word document's text into the blank document.^[10]

   • This may take a few seconds if the original document was particularly large or contained images.
8. 8

   Save the document as a new file. Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or ⌘ Command+S (Mac), then enter your document's name and click Save.^[11] You'll be able to edit the document you just created like usual.^[12]

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