[Solved] Read only

[fbgranger]

Documents I have created myself and then saved (with password) reopen with a read only status. Why and how can I stop this - i want to be able to edit/rewrite my own documents,

[RoryOF]

Have you moved these documents from another computer? If so, how?

[fbgranger]

No, I have created them on my own computer and save there - but they are also saved on dropbox

[Villeroy]

Open the file and call menu:File>Properties... tab "General"
What is the path of your file?

[Bill]

Are you saving in Writer's native .odt file format?

[Hagar Delest]

If you click the edit button, does it work?
There is a field in the More options of the save password dialog to open the file read-only, was it unchecked?

[RoryOF]

Any message? Something to the effect of "Application needs elevation"?

[vulture_airforce]

I have the same problem. I think it all started when updating to the latest version 4.1.3, but I do not remember what version I used before that.

To solve it I have tried saving it with a different name and making sure that the tick box regarding editing protection is not ticked, but I get the same result. The only way to make it work is to save it with another name without password and edit it and then save it with the same name as originally with password.

Anyone else who have solved it?

Running on Mac OSX 10.11.6

[granger]

Thanx, I,all give that a try!

[vulture_airforce]

This is a work around and not a very good one. I cannot understand why it is not possible to adjust and save a password protected document ?!?

I hope a programmer will read this and correct it.

[Villeroy]

The problem is this: Whatever we try to find out about the underlying cause, we never get any answer. There are dozends of topics about read-only documents. Personally I never encountered any such problem without reason (web view, mail attachment, intentional read-only flag, protected sections, temporary file).
Someone asks back if the title bar shows (read-only) after the file name. No answer.
Someone asks back if the whole document is uneditable or only sections of it. No answer.
Someone asks back where the document in question has been saved. The properties dialog provides this information. No answer.
Someone asks back if there is there any lock file .~lock.document_name.odt# in the same folder. No answer.
Someone asks back if there is a read-only flag set in the file properties (file icon right-click>Properties...). No answer.
Someone suggests to hit the edit button. This "does not work" (whatever that means) or it is a nasty work-around (why?).

[vulture_airforce]

OK Villeroy, I understand that life is a bitch and I thought I would get an email when I get an answer in the thread but it did not happen so I use an old Windows XP with an old Office 2003 to edit these files in .doc format while waiting for a fix.
So what can I give you that will help solving the issue? Do you need a video?
Here is what I do in text on my MacBook Pro running 10.11.6 and an Open office version 4.1.3 Swedish version.
As you say that it works I start by verifying that with a simple document
I make a document
Save it in odt format
I write some things
Click save as and clickt the tickbox "save with password"
I enter the password
And it is possible to change the content in the file.
I open it again
enter the password
Save it in Doc 97 format with password
I open the doc file
enter the password
The file cannot be edited.
I save this file in odt format with password
enter and reenter the password
I close the file.
I open the odt file
I enter the password
and I can edit the file.

Now I have verified that it works in this version using small files.

I take a file from work, a large one containing a lot of things I cannot send to others.
The file is in doc 97 format and can be edited with word 2003
I open the file
I enter the password
I save it in odt format with password
I close the file
I open the odt file
I enter the password
The file looks editable and I can set the cursor, but when I try to write something I get a popup saying "The marker or marking in in a write protected area. A change can therefore not be accepted". I can set the cursor anywhere in the document and I get the same popup all the time. If I click the edit button the document stops being editable and I cannot place the cursor anywhere. I see no lock file, but it is a Mac, so I cannot be 100% sure there is non as the OS is not always showing everything... No read only in the task bar. I have tried saving the document in several places with no change. Usually it was saved in the document folder for my user. No read only flag.
Then I copy the complete content of the document into another document, save in odt format it with a password
I close the document
I reopen the odt document and get the same behaviour with the popup.

Then I try to find a workaround as it worked with a small file:

I do the same copy into another document again
I save the document in txt format
I open the txt document
I save the document in odt format with password
I close it
I open the odt file that has no formatting at all
I can now edit the document.

Therefore, there must be a problem with certain formatting in doc files that needs to be removed.
Villeroy, do you have any suggestions of what to check or how to find out what formatting cause the problem?
I am sorry but I cannot send you the file, but it contains 3 different headers, some lists with both numbers and *, different tabulations, 2456 words and 21473 characters.

//Jonas

[Bill]

I take a file from work, a large one containing a lot of things I cannot send to others.
The file is in doc 97 format and can be edited with word 2003
I open the file
I enter the password
I save it in odt format with password
I close the file
I open the odt file
I enter the password
The file looks editable and I can set the cursor, but when I try to write something I get a popup saying "The marker or marking in in a write protected area. A change can therefore not be accepted".

Saving the document in ODT format is probably unnecessary. When a password protected DOC file opens in read-only mode, click the Edit icon and look in the Status bar for something like "read-only : Section 1". If you see that in the Status bar, then click at the beginning of the document and select Format > Sections. On the Edit Sections dialog, uncheck the "Protected" box under "Write protection" and click OK to close the dialog. "Read-only" should disappear from the Title Bar and the Status bar and you should be able to edit the DOC document.

[Villeroy]

"The marker or marking is in a write protected area. A change can therefore not be accepted".

I'm not a extensive Writer user so I've never encountered this message. However it is obvous that this has nothing to do with the file system nor document protection. There is a protected area within the document. The whole document may consist of this area alone or it may consists of multiple protected areas so there is no area where you can write.
Without knowing about this particular message it is very difficult to give helpful advice because it is the most unlikely cause of the problem. In fact it is not a problem at all because the write protection had been intentionally added by one of the previous authors. When you copy write protected parts into a new document, all attributes of the pasted text -- colors, fonts, sizes, borders etc and protections of any kind -- are transferred into the new document. This is not a problem. It is not a bug. The problem is that word processor software in general is too complex for today's users who never read books on complex tools.

When you compose a new word processor document from pasted snippets of other documents, web pages and other sources of formatted text, then you must not use the simple paste command (Ctrl+V). You should always paste plain text into the formatting context of your own document. The shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+Alt+V or Ctrl+Shift+V and then choosing "Unformatted Text". Pasting unformatted (plain) text inserts the characters to the current cursor position just as if you would type them into your keyboard.

[Bill]

I assume that the message reported is an interpretation and not the actual message since a Google search finds it only in this forum thread. The message I see is "Readonly content cannot be changed. No modifications will be accepted"

The write protection isn't added intentionally by the author. It's added by a bug in Writer, possibly when the Set Password dialog is used to set the password. Strangely, if the author intentionally encloses the document content in a write protected section and saves it in DOC format without a password, Writer will remove the section.

Issue 113620 - WW8: simple password-to-open-protected doc has all content in read-only section

[bluegroper]

If there's been an unclean closure of OO file/s, sometimes you need to manually delete the OO lockfile from the same directory as the OO text file/s.
.~lock.filename.odt#
where filename.odt is your OO text file.
HTH

Edit. Prolly best NOT to do this when other users are logged in and sharing files. YMMV

[NewToOO]

I am having the same issue. I am on OO Ver 4.1.15 on Windows 11. I went to the cmd line and created the file using the command 'echo . > index.html'. I verified with the 'attrib index.html' command the the read only attribute was not set. I verified on the file open window that the Read Only box was not checked. When opened in writer the title bar showed 'index.html (read only)'. I went to the 'file>properties>security' tab and verified that 'read only' was not checked.
When I right click and click 'EDIT', it offers me to edit a copy of the file, so it opens a new text file window.
Is there some other way to get rid of the 'read only'?