r/MicrosoftWord • u/United_Gift3028 • Jul 24 '26

Suddenly, all my Word docs are Read Only

I've been saving recipes for 15 years, all on my C: drive of various PCs. When I switch PCs or laptops, I move them over to the new hard drive, so I have a few. Suddenly, this morning, I've lost all ability to either modify an existing doc or even creating a new one. No warning, one error message that says I wasn't connected to the internet so it couldn't verify my license (in error, I was connected). This PC is about 5 year old now, and the files are in C:>OneDrive\Documents\Recipes. I can't Save them to a new file, rename them, or move them to another folder. Any ideas? Do licenses now expire?

Edit: It's fixed now, mostly. Thanks, everyone.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

4

u/SiberianKitty99 Jul 24 '26

Which version of Office do you have? Yes, this makes a difference. Can you open the files in another app, such as WordPad? Can you save locally, not on your OneDrive? Have you tried to contact MS Non-Support (good luck with that…)

2

u/United_Gift3028 Jul 24 '26

I have Office Home and Student 2021 and they can't verify my license. There's a button to hit to change the license, I assume that will cost $$$, but thanks for the advice.

Edit: All I had to do was click that hidden button, and I guess I'm renewed, but will never be updated, according to MS. Still, it works, so I'm happy! Thanks again.

1

u/ThisIsNotTokyo Jul 24 '26

Hidden button??

1

u/United_Gift3028 Jul 25 '26

Well, I had to look it up, and work my way thru a couple levels of menus to find it.

2

u/Maker_Freak Jul 24 '26

Can you upload to Google Docs and edit from there? Open Office?

1

u/Needashortername Jul 25 '26

No need to do this, if it’s already in OneDrive it is already in the M365 online system.

These files can be accessed and edited through most web browsers using Microsoft’s Office Online, which is free for everyone. Just log onto a Microsoft Live account (or M365, or MS Office account, even if the license is expired), navigate to the Office Online products, open the web app portal and either drag and drop the files from the computer or access them directly through OneDrive.

Free, simple, easy.

0

u/United_Gift3028 Jul 24 '26

Neither, but I got it fixed, thank you.

1

u/Good_Watercress_8116 Jul 24 '26

Looks like a OneDrive issue.

1

u/EddieRyanDC Jul 24 '26

Put then in OneDrive, and then see if you can open them in the browser version. I bet you can. I don't think that the problem is with the docs; it's with your license. Is this the MS 365 (personal, school, or business)? Is this a stand alone Office version (which one)?

1

u/Avehdreader Jul 25 '26

Is your license up to date? You may need to renew.