[Solved] Password protected document, Word 97-2004 format

[tynllwyn]

I have been using Open Office (version 4.1.0) on my iMac (Yosemite version 10.10.5) with no problem for years. However I have now applied a password to one .doc and find that I can no longer modify that doc.
When I right click the doc in finder and click "get info" it shows read / write access for all.
When I left click the doc to open it I am prompted for the password, I key this in and the doc opens but with "read only" along the top bar, I then cannot modify the doc ????

[jrkrideau]

I never use password protection but it sounds to me as if you have two things. A) the password protection and a document that is set to read only.

In Linux read-only is a systems -level attribute. You might want to look at the file at the operating system level and see if it is set read-only. Right click on file icon, select preferences and look under the Permissions Tab.

Alternatively do a "Save as" and it should give you a new file that is not set to read-only. You probably lose the pass-word protection as well.

[B Marcelly]

Perhaps it is as simple as this:

Click here (and save)

Ecran004.png (16.63 KiB) Viewed 9979 times

[tynllwyn]

The document attributes when you do a "get info" show read / write for everyone. The entire documents library is set to read / write for everyone.
(It is not Linux it is Mac OS yosemite.)
If I click "edit document" and try to add text I get pop-up message saying "read only document cannot be modified"
Everything was fine until I added a password to the document. It seems that adding a password secures the document in that it cannot be modified even if you know the password. I wanted to secure the document in the sense that only I could view it but that I could modify it when required.
I have tried "save as" but this prompts for another password so the new document will also not be modifiable.

[B Marcelly]

I have now applied a password to one .doc and find that I can no longer modify that doc.

What kind of document is it ? Writer, Calc ?
Is it stored in OpenOffice format ?
Are you the only person using the document?

[MrProgrammer]

It seems that adding a password secures the document in that it cannot be modified even if you know the password.

I have a password protected document on my Mac and it's not marked read-only. So this works fine for me. And based on the lack of similar posts about this topic, it works fine for other Mac users.

If your document is being set to read-only by Mac OS X, you way want to check some Apple/Mac forums to see if others are also reporting that and offering suggestions. I know this is the Open Office Mac OSX forum, but it does not get a lot of use and an Apple/Mac forum may be better for this type of problem. I seem to recall that some recent Mac OS X versions automatically lock files in some situations and that may have occurred here. To check that, locate the file in Finder and use File → Get Info. Look at the "Locked" checkbox. Also do some searches for "read only" in the forum. You'll find lots of topics. See if any of those match your symptoms.

There have been plenty of topics in this forum about being unable to open password protected Open Office documents, particularly after Open Office updates or after Mac OS X updates. I would suggest that you create a password protected disk image (Finder → Go → Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility.app) and put your sensitive document there. Based on what I've read, that will be safer — less chance that you'll be unable to open your document even though you know the password.

[tynllwyn]

The document is stored in Word 97-2004 format, i am the only user of the computer.
I have asked a question in the Mac OS forum and the conclusion was "try the Open Office forum".
There is no "locked" checkbox on the file info frame but sharing and permissions box says read and write for everyone.

[B Marcelly]

If you are the only user of the document, why do you store it in a Word format ? OpenOffice is not a Microsoft Office clone.
Convert your documents into OpenDocument format (*.odt). Or keep Microsoft Word.

[tynllwyn]

I think I have cracked it.
If you open a document then go into properties, security, then add a password (which is what I did) you get a document which requires a password to open it but which cannot be modified even using save as and adding a new password.
However if you open an unprotected document, then go save as, save with password, replace, you are prompted for a password, but you can then reopen the doc with the password and modify it.

2 weeks later I seem to have reverted to the original problem and the only way to modify a document is to rename it and "save as" with a password. I can then trash the previous versions. Experimenting with this I somehow managed to trash a password protected document, move it back out of trash and the password protection had vanished???