On my mac, docs are now opening in read only mode

Question

On my mac, docs are opening in read only mode, and do not respond, even though when I do control I for information and set all users to read and write. When I open the doc it is still read only. It keeps doing this

Answer 1

Try the following steps on the Mac to resolve Word documents opening as read‑only or not responding:

1. Check file attributes in Finder
   1. In Finder, locate one of the affected Word documents.
   2. Right‑click the file and select Get Info.
   3. In General, make sure Locked is not checked.
   4. In Sharing & Permissions, ensure the current macOS user has Read & Write access. If changes were made, close the Info window and try opening the file again in Word.
2. Clear Word AutoRecovery files (if Word hangs or is unresponsive)
   1. In Word, quit the app if it is open or frozen (use Apple menu > Force Quit if needed).
   2. In Finder, on the menu bar select Go > Home.
   3. Open Documents.
   4. Open Microsoft User Data.
   5. Open the Office Autorecovery folder.
   6. Move the contents of this folder to the Desktop (do not delete yet).
   7. Reopen Word and then open the document again.
3. Update Word for Mac
   1. Open Word (if it opens).
   2. On the menu bar, select Help > Check for Updates (or use Microsoft AutoUpdate if installed).
   3. Install any available updates for Word/Office.
   4. Restart Word and test opening the same document.
4. Check the document name
   1. In Finder, verify the file name does not contain special symbols (for example, %).
   2. If it does, rename the file to a simple name (letters, numbers, spaces only).
   3. Open the renamed file in Word and test editing.
5. Reset Word preferences (if the issue persists across all documents)
   1. Quit all Office apps.
   2. In Finder, select Go > Home.
   3. Open Library (hold Option while clicking Go if Library is hidden).
   4. Open Preferences.
   5. Locate com.microsoft.word.plist and move it to the Desktop.
   6. Also open the Microsoft folder under Preferences and move com.microsoft.word.prefs.plist to the Desktop.
   7. Start Word and test opening and editing a document.
   8. If the problem is resolved, the files on the Desktop can be moved to Trash; if not, move them back to restore previous preferences.

If documents still open read‑only after these steps, test with a brand‑new blank document saved to a local folder (such as Documents). If the new file is editable but older ones are not, the older files may still carry restrictive attributes from where they were copied (external drive, another computer, or download source) and need to be checked individually in Finder as in step 1.

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References:

• Word for Mac document stops responding when you try to open a document
• Why did my file open read-only?
• Enable editing in your document