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In the Microsoft Word Android app, whenever I download a word file from the internet, and when I open that file, I see a message: "READ ONLY - This is an older file format. To make changes, make a copy of the file in the new format". What does it mean? Why can't I edit this file? Why do I have to make a copy of this file and then make changes? What is meant by "format" here?
Not only this file when I download/open a word file from the OneDrive Android app, I again see that message. Why? The files which are not opening and are saying "READ ONLY" are .doc files and the .docx files open correctly. Is this related to my problem?
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Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I wish that I could solve the problem, but I'm not a Microsoft employee and I don't have any influence on what can be done. (What is an MVP?)
Post your request at https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304954-word-for-android to have it seen by Microsoft employees.
No I don't see any read only makings. Now, after the new update of Onedrive, I can't open any files from the Ondrive android app. When I tap a file, in opens as an image. I have to select open with word, then it opens with word. But before the update it opened with word automatically. Please solve these issues. Also, before the update, there was an "open with office apps" option in the settings. But now there is nothing like this.
I don't know why .docx files would say Read Only, unless they were actually marked with that attribute on the server. That shouldn't be the case for files that you upgraded within Word for Android, but because it's a situation I have never encountered, I don't have any solution to give you.
If you use File Explorer in Windows or the OneDrive application in your web browser to examine the files' properties, can you see any indication that the server's copies are marked as read only?
Yes I've seen a "Upgrade a copy" button. But then I converted all the .doc files to .docx and then opened them through Word app. But then also I see that "Read Only" message. And when I tap "Upgrade a copy" then it saves in .docx format. But the file is already in .docx format. Why is this happening?
You are correct that the "format" refers to the difference between .doc files and .docx files. Internally, the files are very different. Word for Android will not allow you to edit .doc files; you can read, search, copy, and print them, but not make changes.
When you see the Read Only notice, you can tap the button for "Upgrade a copy". Word will then show a Save button to save the file as a .docx document with the same name except for the extension, and you can edit that.