How to open a word document as read-only

Opening a Word document as read-only helps prevent unintentional changes you make to the document from being saved. Read-Only mode does not allow you to make any changes to the document, preventing you from inadvertently saving changes. We will show you how to open any Word document as read-only.

The “Recent” list displays on the backstage screen when you first open Word. Click the “Open Other Documents” link at the bottom of the “Recent” list.

NOTE: If you already have a new or existing document open and want to open another document as read-only, click the “File” tab and then click “Open” on the backstage screen. A quick way to access the “Open” backstage screen is to press “Ctrl + O”.

On the “Open” screen, click “Computer” to access files on your computer, or click “OneDrive” to open a file from your OneDrive account as read-only.

Below the “Recent Folders” list, on the right side of the “Open” screen, click the “Browse” button.

Navigate to the folder containing the file you want to open as read-only. Instead of clicking the main part of the “Open” button, click the down arrow on the right side of the “Open” button. Select “Read-Only” from the drop-down menu.

Your document is opened as read-only, as shown in the image at the beginning of this article. Read-Only mode is similar to the Read Mode in Word.

You may find that when you are opening files, they open as read-only. In some cases, this is for added security, such as when you are opening files from the internet, and other times, it can be due to a setting that can be changed. Here are some scenarios where a file opens read-only and some steps you can take to change that.

My antivirus is causing them to open read-only

Some antivirus programs may protect you from potentially unsafe files by opening them read-only. You may need to check with your antivirus provider to learn how to adjust these settings. BitDefender, for example, has content on adding application exclusions here: How to add application or process exclusions in Bitdefender Control Center.

Are the file properties set to read-only?

You can check the file properties by right-clicking on the file and choosing Properties. If the Read-only attribute is checked, you can uncheck it and click OK.

The content is in protected view

Files from the Internet and from other potentially unsafe locations can contain viruses, worms, or other kinds of malware that can harm your computer. This is also commonly the case with email attachments or files you’ve downloaded. To help protect your computer, files from these potentially unsafe locations are opened in Protected View. By using Protected View, you can read a file and see its contents while reducing the risks. For more information on Protected view and how to change settings, see this article: What is Protected View?

Is OneDrive full?

If the file is stored on OneDrive and your OneDrive storage space is full, you will be unable to save the document until you are under your allotted space. You can check your free space on OneDrive by clicking the OneDrive icon in the notification center and choosing Manage storage, or you can go to sign in, and note the amount of used space in the lower left of the screen.

Is Office activated?

If Office is not activated, or if your subscription has expired, you could be in read-only Reduced Functionality Mode. For information on how to Activate Office, see: Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office.

If all else fails.

Try restarting the computer

Install Office updates

Perform an Online repair of Office

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This article was last reviewed by Ben on June 21st, 2018 as a result of your comments. If you found this article helpful, and especially if you didn’t, please use the feedback controls below to let us know how we can make it better.

If you don’t want the contents of a Word document to be accidentally modified by others, the most straightforward method is to make the document read-only. Now, this page will take Microsoft Word 2016 as an example to show how to make a Word document read-only. These methods are applicable to Office Word 2013, Word 2010 and Word 2007.

Way 1: How to Make a Word document read-only with password

To use the password to make a Word document read-only, there are two options.

Option 1: Assign password to protect a document from modifying

Step 1: Open the Word document.

Step 2: Click File -> Save as, and select one location where you will save this document.

Step 3: In the Save As dialog, click the drop-down arrow next to the Tools button and then select General Options.

Step 4: In the General Options dialog, check the box next to Read-only recommended, and type a password to modify. Re-enter the password to modify and click OK.

Step 5: When you are back in the Save As dialog, click Save to save this Word 2016 document and make it read-only.

When you open this Word document and try to make changes to the document, a password required. If you forget its password, how do you edit this document? Learn more see how to edit a locked Word document without password.

Option 2: Use the restrict editing feature

To create a read-only document that doesn’t require a password to open is to use the restrict editing feature.

Step 1: Open the Word document.

Step 2: Select the Review tab and click Protect -> Restrict Editing.

Step 3: After the Restrict Editing panel appears, check the box under Formatting restrictions and Editing restrictions depending on your own needs. Then click on Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.

Step 4: In the Start Enforcing Protection dialog, enter and re-enter password to protect the Word document.

Step 5: Press Save + S to save the changes and make the Word document read-only.

Way 2: Make a Word 2016 document read only without password

There are also two options.

Option 1: Make as Final

Step 1: Open the Word document.

Step 2: Select File -> Info tab, and then click Protect Document –> Mark as Final.

Step 3: Click OK when prompting with the alert shown as below.

Then this Word 2016 document is marked as Read-Only. When it is opened, a “MARKED AS FINAL” alert message will appear at the top to discourage editing. However, if the users click on Edit Anyway at the end of the alert message, they will be able to modify the Word document.

Option 2: Mark as Read-Only

To make a Word document read-only, you can change an attribute on the file in Windows:

Step 1: Close the Word document.

Step 2: Right-click on the document, and select Properties.

Step 3: In the Properties dialog, select General tab, check Read-only checkbox, and then click Apply followed by OK.

By this way, the Word 2016 document is also marked as Read-Only. You can edit the contents, but the changes you make won’t be saved in the original document. To save the changes, you need to save the Word document with a new name or in a different location.

If you don’t want content reviewers to accidentally modify your document, you can make the document read only before sending it for review. Another method is to restrict formatting and editing.

Making your document a read-only file means that the document can be read or copied but not modified. If one of the reviewers tries to make changes to a read-only file, the changes can be saved only by giving the document a new name or saved to a new location.

Note: Making your document read only doesn’t prevent someone from making a new copy of the document and saving it with a different name or in a different place.

Restrict editing

Click Review > Restrict Editing.

Under Editing restrictions, check Allow only this type of editing in the document, and make sure the list says No changes (Read only).

Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.

In the box that opens, type a password you’ll be able to remember, and then type the password again to confirm it.

The password’s optional. But if you don’t add a password, anyone can click Stop Protection and edit the document.

See also

Save as read only

Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Save or Save As if you have previously saved the document.

Click General Options.

Click the Read-only recommended check box.

Save the document. You might need to save it as another file name if you have already named the document.

Remove read only

Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Save or Save As if you have previously saved the document.

Click General Options.

Clear the Read-only recommended check box.

Save the document. You might need to save it as another file name if you have already named the document.

Restrict formatting and editing

The following are the steps for a second method for helping to stop content reviewers from accidentally modifying your document.

On the Review tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Document.

Under Restrict Reviewing Options, click Restrict Formatting and Editing.

In the Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane, under Formatting restrictions, Editing restrictions, and Start enforcement, make the selections that meet your formatting and editing needs.

Unrestrict formatting and editing

On the Review tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Document.

To clear the check mark, click Restrict Formatting and Editing under Restrict Reviewing Options.

If you’re sharing a document and you want to avoid changes being made to it, you can force Word to prompt the user to open the document as read only when they open the file. We’ll show you how to enable this setting.

Open the file you want opened as read only and click the “File” tab.

On the backstage screen, click “Save As” in the list of items on the left.

On the “Save As” screen, select a place on the left. If the folder in which you want to save your document is listed under “Current Folder” or “Recent Folders”, click that folder.

If the folder you want is not listed under “Current Folder” or “Recent Folders”, click the “Browse” button under the list of “Recent Folders” on the right.

On the “Save As” dialog box, navigate to the desired folder, if necessary, and change the filename if you want to save the file under a different name. Select “General Options” from the “Tools” drop-down menu.

On the “General Options” dialog box, select the “Read-only recommended” check box so there is a check mark in the box and click “OK”.

Click “Save” to save the document with this setting.

This procedure also works in Excel. The “General Options” dialog box is a bit different, but the option is the same.

Anyone who opens the file in Word or Excel will now be prompted to choose “Open as Read-Only”.

Making a Word document read only can help to prevent the Word document from being edited accidently or intentionally. So, when you want to make changes to the read only Word document, you have to disable read only in the Word document first. Here this article will show you how to remove read only to enable editing in Word 2013/2016 depends on different cases that how the Word document is made to read only.

Case 1: Word document is Marked as Final

When the Word document is marked as final, you can see the yellow line on the top of document, and you can’t edit anything on this document, unless read only mode is disabled.

On this case, to enable editing in Word document, you just need to click on the Edit Anyway button, and then you can make changes to this document and save the changes.

Case 2: Word document is made to read only on Properties

When the Word document is made to read only on Properties, it is only marked as [Read-Only] on the top of the file name. On this case, you still can edit on this document, but can’t save it to the same name on the same location. You can save it to a different file name, or save it to a different location.

If want to remove read only from this Word document, you just need to right-click on this document file, select Properties . Uncheck the box next to “Read-only” , and then click on OK .

Case 3: Word document is made to read only on General Options

If the Word document is made to read only recommended from General Options, you will get the prompt message telling “The author would like you to open this as read-only…” while you are opening this document. If don’t want to make changes to this document, click on Yes to open this document as read-only mode. If want to make changes to this Word document, click No , and then you can edit this document normally.

When the Word Document is set a password to modify from General Options, you will get the prompt message telling this Word document is reserved. If you want to modify this document, you need to enter the password to open it. If you don’t want to modify this document, just click on Read Only button to open it.

To disable read only from General Options:

1. Enter the modify password to open this Word document if it has been set a password to modify.

2. Click on File >> Save As , click on Browse to open the location where this file is.

3. Click on Tool , select General Options .

4. Uncheck the box next to “Read-only recommended” , clear the password from the text box on the right side of “Password to modify” , and then click on OK .

Case 4: Word document is restricted editing with password

When the Word document is protected with restrict editing, you won’t be able to make any changes to this document. If you are trying to modify this document, you will get the hint on the bottom of this document saying “You can’t make change because the selection is locked”. If you want to edit the protection part of this document, you need to stop protection.

To stop the protection of this document, you just need to click on the Stop Protection button on the right bottom of this document.

If the Word document is protected with restrict editing password, you will need to enter password to unprotect this document.

If you forgot the restrict editing password, you can follow this article: How to remove restrict editing from Word document without password.

When using Microsoft Office Word 2016, you may want to enable read-only mode for a word document to prevent others changing your finished work. This passage talks about how to enable read-only mode in Word document.

Make a Word document read only via its properties

When you want to make a current Word document read only, you should follow the under steps.

Step 1: Navigate to the folder of the target Word document, then right-click it and select Properties in the coming menu list. Then in the coming dialog, just check Read-only box at the bottom of the dialog.

Make a Word document read only by restrict editing feature

When you want to make a opened Word document read only, just follow the way.

Step 1: When you open the Word document, then click the Review item at the top of the ribbon, and find Restrict Editing in its subcategories.

Step 2: In the Restrict Editing panel, just check the Allow only this type of editing in the document. Select the Filling in forms in the below scroll down list. Then navigate to the bottom of the panel, click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection icon.

Step 3: In the coming Start Enforcing Protection dialog, please type a password into both Enter new password (optional) and Reenter password to confirm boxes, and click the OK button.

Note: After the above operation, your document is read-only, and nobody can edit this Word document. If you want to stop the protection of the Word document, just repeat the above action to find Restrict Editing and click Stop Protection in its panel and type password to disable the read-only mode.

Make a Word document read only by save as tool

When you are going to make a new created Word document read only, just follow this way.

Step 1: Follow the navigation chain File>>Save as. In the coming interface, just click More options.

Step 2: When the save as dialog pops up, just navigate to the bottom of it, click Tools icon and select General Options in the coming menu list.

Step 3: In the coming General Options dialog, check the Read-only recommended option, and click the OK button.

Step 4: Click Save button at the bottom of the Save As dialog.

Note: If your Word document has never been saved before, you need to specify the destination folder and file name.

Related Links:

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When sharing a Word document with others, it is a good idea to make it read only to protect the Word document from being edited by unauthorized readers. We also can make the Word document read only to avoid making any accidental changes. Here this article will show you 5 ways to make a Word document read only in Microsoft Word 2013/2016. Go on and choose the appropriate way according your needs.

Here this article mainly takes Microsoft Word 2016 as example, it also applies to Word 2013, as the steps on them are the same.

Way 1: Make Word document read only by Marked as Final

1. Open the Word document, click on File в†’ Info в†’ Protect Document , and then select Mark as Final .

2. When get the pop-up message that telling you this document will be marked as final, click on OK to make it.

3. You will see the yellow line on the top of the Word document.

When the Word document is made to read only by this way, you won’t be able to modify anything on this document If you want to edit this document, you can click on the Edit Anyway button to remove read only from this document.

Way 2: Make Word document read only from properties

1. Right-click on this Word document file, select Properties .

2. Check the box next to “Read-only” , and click on OK .

When the Word document is marked as read only by this way, it can be edited by anyone, but can’t be saved as the same name on the same location. If you want to make change to this document, you can open the Properties of this document, and then uncheck the box next to “Read-only”.

Way 3: Make Word document read only with Read-only recommended

1. Open this Word document, click on File в†’ Save as , click on Browse to select the location where it is, click on Tools , and then select General Options .

2. Check the box next to “Read-only recommended” , and click on OK .

If make the Word document read only by checking the box next to “Read-only recommended”, readers will get the prompt message telling “The author would like you to open this as read-only, unless you want to make changes”. If you want to open this Word document in read-only mode, click on Yes . If want to make changes to this document, click on No .

The methods above to make a Word document read only, only can prevent readers from making changes to it accidently, but can’t prevent unauthorized people from making changes to it intentionally.

If want to protect this Word document from being edited by unauthorized people accidently and intentionally, follow the ways below.

Way 4: Make Word document read only with modify password

1. Open the Word document, click on File в†’ Save as , click on Browse to open the location where it is.

2. Click on Tools on the bottom of Save As dialog, and then select General Options .

3. Enter password on the text box on the right side of Password to modify , retype password to confirm it, and then click on OK .

When the Word document is made to read only by this way, readers will get pop-up message that telling this Word document is reserved. If want to edit this document, enter the password to open it. If just want to read this document, click on Read Only button to open it.

This way only prevents readers from making changes to this document, but readers still can edit contents on this document, and then save it to a different file name, or save it to the same file name on a different location.

Way 5: Make Word document read only by Restrict Editing

1. Open this Word file, click on Review , and then click on Restrict Editing .

2. Below Editing restrictions , check the box of “Allow only this type of editing in the document” . And select “No changes (Read only)” on the drop-down list. Click on “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection” .

3. Enter and reenter password on the text field, and click on OK .

When the Word document is protected with restrict editing password, no one can edit any contents on this document, unless stop protection with password.

If you want to modify this restricted document, click on Stop Protection , and then type in password to unprotect this document and disable read only in this Word document.

If you forgot the editing restrictions password, you can get Cocosenor Word Unprotect Tuner to remove the protection password in a soon.

that’s problem and the point, we DON’T want it to open is Read-Only mode, regardless of the file being an Outlook attachment. We want the Word attachments to open in Edit mode, without having to right click the file attachment, or save the file first. Is there a fix for this?

Replies (10) 

that’s problem and the point, we DON’T want it to open is Read-Only mode, regardless of the file being an Outlook attachment. We want the Word attachments to open in Edit mode, without having to right click the file attachment, or save the file first. Is there a fix for this?

If you are referring to attachments opening in Read Mode (sometimes called reading layout view) in Word 2013 and 2016, clear the option to “Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view” at File | Options | General.

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that’s problem and the point, we DON’T want it to open is Read-Only mode, regardless of the file being an Outlook attachment. We want the Word attachments to open in Edit mode, without having to right click the file attachment, or save the file first. Is there a fix for this?

If you are referring to attachments opening in Read Mode (sometimes called reading layout view) in Word 2013 and 2016, clear the option to “Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view” at File | Options | General.

Yes, referring to the attachments, specifically the Microsoft Word attachments. Microsoft Office 2016: the attachments are opening in [Read-Only] [Compatibility Mode] – Word. There is no reference to any other name for this in outlook. there is no option under File\Options\General to select Open-email attachments. The only associated option under the General tab is to “Enable Live Preview” toggling on or off does not effect the format of the Word doc when you right click, or double click to open the attachment. The doc continues to open in [Read-Only] [Compatibility Mode] – Word , and you then need to select View, from the top left menu (choices are File, Tools, View) and then select Edit Document. We, Me, would like to be able to open the Word attachment without having to take these extra steps, every time we receive a new Word attachment.

Although i do appreciate everyone’s help, Please do not respond with generalizations and try this or that. if you have a fix, and its tested and works, then respond. if you are not sure what is being discussed, or haven’t tested the fix, please DON’T respond, it convolutes the thread and issue, making it harder to get someone to understand the specific issue.