Read protection and word

Things You Should Know

• Word files may be read-only due to Protected View, password protection, or file permissions in Windows or macOS.
• If you’re using Windows, right-click the file, select «Properties,» click the «Properties» tab, then remove the Read-only attribute.
• On a Mac, click the file, go to «File» > «Get Info» > «Sharing & Permissions,» and allow «Read & Write» permission.

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.

   • 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.

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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

   Click Stop Protection. It’s at the bottom of the pop-out menu. You should see a pop-up window appear at this point.

   • 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.

   • 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:

   • 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.

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.

6. 

   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.

   • 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. You’ll be able to edit the document you just created like usual.

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• Another way to remove the read-only protection from a Microsoft Word document is by converting the Word document into a PDF with the SmallPDF online converter, downloading the converted PDF, and then converting the PDF back into a Word document with SmallPDF.

• It’s much easier to copy the protected document’s text and paste it into a new document than it is to try to crack Microsoft’s security.

Did this summary help you?

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sample.docx");

    //Encrypt the document with a password
    document->Encrypt(L"open-psd");

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/Encryption.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sample.docx");

    //Protect the document by specifying the protection type and the password
    document->Protect(ProtectionType::AllowOnlyReading, L"permission-psd");

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/RestrictEditing.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sample.docx");

    //Set the protection type as "AllowOnlyFormFields"
    document->Protect(ProtectionType::AllowOnlyFormFields, L"permission-psd");

    //Unprotect section 2
    document->GetSections()->GetItem(1)->SetProtectForm(false);

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/ProtectSections.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sample2.docx");

    //Set the protect type to AllowOnlyReading
    document->Protect(ProtectionType::AllowOnlyReading, L"permission-psd");

    //Create tags for permission start and end
    PermissionStart* start = new PermissionStart(document, L"regionOne");
    PermissionEnd* end = new PermissionEnd(document, L"regionOne");

    //Add the start and end tags to allow the selected paragraphs to be editable
    document->GetSections()->GetItem(0)->GetParagraphs()->GetItem(0)->GetChildObjects()->Insert(0, start);
    document->GetSections()->GetItem(0)->GetParagraphs()->GetItem(1)->GetChildObjects()->Add(end);

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/SetEditableRegions.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\SetEditableRegions.docx");

	//Find "PermissionStart" and "PermissionEnd" tags and remove them
	for (int i = 0; i < document->GetSections()->GetCount(); i++)
	{
		Section* section = document->GetSections()->GetItem(i);
		for (int j = 0; j < section->GetBody()->GetParagraphs()->GetCount(); j++)
		{
			Paragraph* para = section->GetBody()->GetParagraphs()->GetItem(j);
			for (int k = 0; k < para->GetChildObjects()->GetCount(); k++)
			{
				DocumentObject* obj = para->GetChildObjects()->GetItem(k);
				if (dynamic_cast<PermissionStart*>(obj) != nullptr || dynamic_cast<PermissionEnd*>(obj) != nullptr)
				{
					para->GetChildObjects()->Remove(obj);
				}
				else
				{
					k++;
				}
			}
		}
	}

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/RemoveEditableRegions.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load a Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\RestrictEditing.docx");

    //Set the protect type to NoProtection
    document->Protect(ProtectionType::NoProtection);

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/RemoveRestrictions.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}

#include "Spire.Doc.o.h";

using namespace Spire::Doc;

int main() {

    //Create a Document object
    Document* document = new Document();

    //Load an encrypted Word file
    document->LoadFromFile(L"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Encryption.docx", FileFormat::Docx, L"open-psd");

    //Remove the open password
    document->RemoveEncryption();

    //Save the document to another Word file
    document->SaveToFile(L"Output/RemovePassword.docx", FileFormat::Docx2013);
    document->Close();
    delete document;
}