Password Protection Dilemma

[TPB]

Long-time OO user. I have a Writer file that I have been using for a couple years. It's password protected. I never change the password. Every time I open this file, OO asks me for the password.

Today, I open the file and it realize that it opened *without* entering the password. Mind you, you can't just inadvertently click on something to delete the password, you have to take a couple steps.

So I go to File > Properties > Security, click on "read-only" (I don't know why", click on "Protect", enter and re-enter the password (they have to match, right?), click okay and...

...now the file opens without requiring a password, it's in "read-only" status, and when I go to File > Properties > Security, everything in that tab is "grayed-out", so I can't even enter the password to undo that! And I am 100% certain that I do have the right password.

Please please help. It's a heavily-formatted 28 page document that cannot be reduplicated. Just clicking "Select all" and pasting into a new document didn't preserve the formatting.

Thank you all in advance.

[Zizi64]

Please please help. It's a heavily-formatted 28 page document that cannot be reduplicated. Just clicking "Select all" and pasting into a new document didn't preserve the formatting.

Tips for the future:
1.: Often make backup copies about your important documents. Then you can open a previous version if the main document damaged. It means a few re-typing work only.
2.: Always use the Styles instead of the manual formatting properties. You can reproduce the styles in a few minutes in a new document.

[TPB]

Well, I can only be snarky to that response, Capt. AfterTheFact.

But what about NOW?

Also, that was an evolving, stand-alone document, not a template or something to be made *from* a template.

And I didn't lose the document and never had such an experience before with OO or an OO-created document.

So, I repeat: what about NOW?

[Zizi64]

OpenOffice 4.3.1, Win10

Are you using LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffce? (There is not AOO 4.3.1 version today.)

(If your problem related to a bug, then we can check it on the same version only.)

[TPB]

OpenOffice 4.3.1, Win10

Are you using LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffce? (There is not AOO 4.3.1 version today.)

Er, oops, it *is* Apache OpenOffice 4.1.3 (seriously, work with me here, okay?

[Zizi64]

I just tried it in my AOO 4.1.3. I have created a small dsample document and adjusted to the read only state (with password). I do not see how you can unprotect your document with the AOO: the function is greyed.

But when I opened the sample, protected (read only) document in my Libreoffice 5.3.6, I can click on the Edit button of the yellow bar, and then I can unprotect the read only state. See the pictures:

Then you can Unprotect the file:

If you want not install the LibreOffice, then you can try it in the AOO:

"Save As" your document with a different filename. Close the document and the AOO. Open the copy of your document. The Unprotect function is available now for me in my AOO 4.1.3:

[Zizi64]

I do not know if it is a bug or a normal behavior (a conception) of the AOO, but the developers of the LO are on an another way.

Note:
The version number of the actually used office suite is very important information for the helpers.
Please update your signature in this forum.

[Bill]

Well, I can only be snarky to that response, Capt. AfterTheFact.

But what about NOW?

I suggest that you go File > Properties > Security and click the Help button.

The options are grayed out because you clicked the "Open file read-only" option which means that you can not change the document. Help says that you have to edit a copy of the document and save the copy with the same name as the original. Click the Edit File icon on the Toolbar to edit a copy of the file.

Help also explains that the Protect button protects the recording state with a password. That's not the same thing as saving the document with a password. The option to save the document with a password is on the Save As dialog.

[TPB]

Well, I couldn't find anything in Help before I posted here so maybe that can be changed in the future?

After Zizi's post, I discovered that if I selected all, then right clicked, I got an option to edit, then that un-grayed the "protect" option and I was able to unselect "read-only". Then I did save as and added back the password.

That still doesn't explain how the file password came off allowing anybody to open the document and read it (or even change it before I futzed-up the read-only protection).

Thanks for the responses.

[Bill]

Well, I couldn't find anything in Help before I posted here so maybe that can be changed in the future?

What needs to be changed? That Help button is ubiquitous on dialogs in Apache OpenOffice. The user only has to click the Help button.

[TPB]

Well, I couldn't find anything in Help before I posted here so maybe that can be changed in the future?

What needs to be changed? That Help button is ubiquitous on dialogs in Apache OpenOffice. The user only has to click the Help button.

What needs to be changed????

HOW TO FIX WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, that's what needs to be changed. Is there an explanation of if you "read-only protect" a document how to un-protect it?

Yeah, there is, NOW I've found that but that is totally unintuitive, especially as I did this by accident. If you protect it in File > Properties > Security, then that's where it should be UN-protected, too. All I know is that the option was grayed-out. How was I supposed to know that I needed to right-click on the document to get "edit"? When I clicked on Edit on the toolbar, there wasn't an option for edidting, you know, where that should be--or, as I said, on File > Properties > Security--you know where you make the setting should be where you remove the setting--that seems like common sense. Sorry, that's bad programming and it's something that should be fixed. I'm not new to computers or to OpenOffice (I've been using it since around 2005 or so). No, this makes no sense. THAT's what needs to be changed?

Case closed.

[Villeroy]

Click the edit button!
If the document is write protected, it will be editable now and you can save it as the same write-protected document or under another name unprotected.

Click the edit button!
If the document's file is read-only on file system level, you get a new, unsaved copy of the document which asks for a new path-name before saving.

Click the edit button!
If the document was locked due to concurrent write access, it may be editable by now or at least you'll get a message about the situation with solutions 'Cancel edit', 'Edit a copy', 'Edit anyway'

If there is still something you can't edit then it is a document specific protection. Parts of documents (frames, sections, text boxes, form controls, drawings) can be protected.

[TPB]

Click the edit button!
If the document is write protected, it will be editable now and you can save it as the same write-protected document or under another name unprotected.

Click the edit button!
If the document's file is read-only on file system level, you get a new, unsaved copy of the document which asks for a new path-name before saving.

Click the edit button!
If the document was locked due to concurrent write access, it may be editable by now or at least you'll get a message about the situation with solutions 'Cancel edit', 'Edit a copy', 'Edit anyway'

If there is still something you can't edit then it is a document specific protection. Parts of documents (frames, sections, text boxes, form controls, drawings) can be protected.

What "edit button"? The only edit button is "Edit" on the top toolbar. And I discussed that there were no edit functions available because of the read-only protection. And that the NEEDED edit was only discovered after right-clicking on the document.

And, since you don't read well, I said "case closed" indicating that this doesn't require any further discussion other than possibly whatever glitch cause the document password to disappear in the first place. No, "I* didn't do it, neither intentionally or unintentionally, and it would have taken two deliberate steps--clicking File > Save As and then UNCHECKING the "Save with password" box, neither of which were done.

[Villeroy]

What "edit button"? The only edit button is "Edit" on the top toolbar

Yes, that one works for me.n
In LibreOffice they made it more visible as shown in the screenshots.

[Zizi64]

I see now:

There is a toolbar icon on the Toolbar. This toolbar is visible when a read only file is opened. Click on it, then you will able unprotect the file.

[Villeroy]

There is a toolbar icon on the Toolbar. This toolbar is visible when a read only file is opened. Click on it, then you will able unprotect the file.

It is unprotected straight away. Eiter you get a new copy (in case of a file system lock) or you can edit the write-protected copy directly. In the latter case the document keeps the write-protection flag which makes sense. But you can start a new unprotected copy of this document.

The locks you can apply to several parts of documents are another story.
If the edit button does not help, I would guess that you have a document with partial restrictions or even a document that consists of restricted areas only.

[Bill]

What "edit button"? The only edit button is "Edit" on the top toolbar. And I discussed that there were no edit functions available because of the read-only protection. And that the NEEDED edit was only discovered after right-clicking on the document.

There's an "Edit" menu on the Menu Bar and a "File Edit" icon on the Standard Toolbar which is usually below the Menu Bar. The "edit button" is the "File Edit" icon on the toolbar, not "Menu" on the Menu Bar. Clicking the "File Edit" icon or right-clicking in the document and selecting Edit do exactly the same thing, which is to allow the user to edit the document. If clicking the File Edit icon doesn't allow you to edit the document, then you may need to reinstall/repair your installation or reset your user profile.