Step 6: If a password was previously set to restrict editing, you’ll need to provide that password, and then click OK. Go to the bottom of the pane and click Stop Protection. Step 5: You should see a pane on the right of the Microsoft Word window. Step 3: Check through the different options and click on the drop-down under the Protect option. Step 2: Click on Review tab on the ribbon at the top of the screen. Step 1: Click on the Start menu, type Microsoft Word, and hit Enter to launch the Word document. If you have the password for the file, here’s what you can do to disable it. Users can view files in read-only mode with the files with editing restrictions enabled using password protection. Disable Protection for Password-Protected Files #

Step 5: Click Save to retain your setting.Īfter this, the document shouldn’t appear in read-only format and you can modify the contents of the document. Step 4: Click on Enable Editing towards the end of the banner. The banner tells you that the file is in PROTECTED VIEW, and you should stay in this view, except you need to edit the document. Step 3: On launching the Word document, look for a yellow banner at the top of the window. Alternatively, you can right-click on the file and select Open. Step 2: Double-click on the file to open it. Step 1: On your PC, navigate to the location of the downloaded file. The steps below will show you how to enable editing for newly downloaded files: But, you cannot edit them unless you enable edits. So, you can only view the contents of the document.

This post will explain the top three in steps below: Enable Editing for Newly Downloaded Files #įor files downloaded from an email, shared drives, and other sources, Microsoft Word automatically opens those files in a Protected View.

There are several ways to remove the read-only restriction from a Microsoft Word document. When this happens, you need to remove the restriction before you can edit the document. Manually by someone who has passworded it. By default, on your system as a safety precaution for files obtained from an online source.

Disable protected view microsoft word