latest Word for Mac update locks me out of updating all of my local documents

Question

Just installed Word update version 16.106.3. When I try to update ANY of my locally stored documents, I get the message "You can't make this change because the selection is locked".

Answer 1

Something in the latest Microsoft Office update derailed the connection to my existing Office 2021 license. The message at the top of each document implied that my only option was to subscribe to 365. Eventually I bought an Office 2024 package. After installing the new software, when I opened my Word or Excel docs (both were affected), they were still locked. At that point I clicked on "Activate" at the end of the "365" error message, and it had options for either 365 or Office. I chose Office, since I had just bought a new package, and it asked me to choose between my TWO licenses, one for Office 2021 and one for 2024. So Microsoft knew all along that the 2021 office license was there, it just refused to connect to it. I was basically tricked into buying Office 2024. IMO this was a tactic to get around Microsoft's claim that older versions of the software will continue to work, just won't get updates, so people will buy new software. Microsoft made my existing copy of Office 2021 unusable, and provided no information that all I had to do was (re)"activate" my existing license, which they never should have deactivated in the first place. If I sound angry it's because I am.

Answer 2

Hello Renee Legris

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum

When Office informs you that "You can’t make this change because the selection is locked", this means your Office Word has been deactivated after the update or your document is locked.

Here is what you can do to fix that:

Try checking Finder “Locked” attribute in your document:

Right-click the document in Finder > Get Info > uncheck Locked (if checked)

This method is suggested in this apple thread of a user with the same issue:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256020109?sortBy=rank

Disclaimer: This is a third‑party link not provided by Microsoft. Please be cautious with any unsafe links or files included. Microsoft is not responsible for the content or security of third‑party websites.  

If information above don’t help you out, for further troubleshoot, could you please share us a screenshot of your Word when the error message pop up?

Feel free reply back to this post and update me on the situation, I'll be happy to help.