Microsoft KB Archive/909134

= When you open a document in Word, the document opens as read-only =

Article ID: 909134

Article Last Modified on 3/23/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Word 2003
 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

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SYMPTOMS
When you open a document in one of the Microsoft Word versions that is listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section, the document opens as read-only.



CAUSE
This issue may occur when one of the following conditions is true:
 * You only have read-only permissions to open the document.
 * Another user who has read-only permissions has opened the document.
 * Another user has opened the document as read-only.
 * You open the document from a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 document library.



WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, use one of the following methods, depending on your situation.

Method 1: Require a password to open the document for changes
When a file is opened as read-only, any additional access by another user will always be read-only. This occurs because Word creates an &quot;owner&quot; file when a document is opened. The purpose of the owner file is to let Word manage the locking of the document and to control access to the document.

For example, when a user who has read permissions opens a document, and then a second user who has read/write permissions opens the same document, the document opens as read-only for the second user.

To work around this issue, the document should be saved by using the Password to modify option.

To save a document by using the Password to modify option, follow these steps:
 * 1) Open the document in Word.
 * 2) On the File menu, click Save As.
 * 3) On the Tools menu in the Save As dialog box, click Security Options.
 * 4) In the Password to modify box, type a password for the document, and then click OK.
 * 5) In the Confirm Password dialog box, retype the same password, and then click OK.

If the document has been saved by using the Password to modify option, subsequent users can open the document as expected by providing the password.

Method 2: Modify the document in Word
By default, when you open a document from a SharePoint Portal Server 2003 document library, the document is opened as read-only.

To open the document so that you can make changes, click the arrow next to the file name in the document library. Then, click Edit in Microsoft Office Word.

Additional query words: word2003 word2k3 wd2003 wd2k3 word2002 word2k2 wordxp wd2002 wd2k2 wdxp word2000 word2k wd2000 wd2k

Keywords: kbtshoot kbprb kbopenfile KB909134

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