Want to open Documents in in edit mode instead of read only

Anonymous
2015-12-18T23:38:44+00:00

Windows 10, Word 16, how do I get to open in edit mode instead of read only

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2015-12-19T06:54:32+00:00

What is the source of the documents?

For files that:

  • originate from the Internet
  • are located in potentially unsafe locations
  • are received as attachments to an e-mail message

by default, Word will open such documents in Protected View.  However, by going to File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Protected View, you can change that behaviour for each of the above individual cases.

If the documents have the Read-only attribute set, you can go to File>Options>General and uncheck the box for "Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view".

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  1. Stefan Blom 350.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-08-30T23:16:50+00:00

    If the file was sent via e-mail, you should clear the option to "Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view" at File | Options | General. In the future, documents should open in Print Layout view.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-19T06:44:45+00:00

    Hi Ron,

    Welcome and thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

    I understand that your Word documents are opening in Read only mode. Let me assist you with this issue.

    Please follow the below steps to open Word 2016 in edit mode. Open the Word document> Click on View at the top of the Window> Click on Edit Document. Then it should open the document in edit mode.

    Hope this helps. Please post to us if you need any further assistance with Office.

    Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-19T08:52:36+00:00

    The suggested fix changes the settings when YOU open a Word document on YOUR computer.

    I have a Word form to be distributed to a wide user group who often have problems with basic Word functionality. When the form opens in read-only mode, many of these users will be confused because they cannot enter data in the form - they will not know to switch to the Edit document view.

    Therefore I want the form to open in edit mode on other peoples' computers.

    In other words, I don't want to change the settings on my computer, I want to tweak the Word file to always open in edit mode.

    How can I do this, please?

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-30T20:56:43+00:00

    I had a similar problem. At one time I was having trouble seeing a Word 1997 - 2003 file sent to me by a friend. I tried several view modes with "Read Mode" being the last I view I used. Finally I just copied the data, opened a blank document, and reformatted it. Then when I tried to open my other files, they all opened in the Read Mode. It caught me off guard that what I did to one file impacted my other files. That should never happen. It took me a long time to figure out what had happened because I never thought Microsoft would allow one file setting to impact to affect documents opened later. That is screwed up.

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