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"This command is not available because the document is locked for edit" error message when you try to edit old or new documents in Office XP and in Office 2003

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Article ID:316032
Last Review:January 31, 2007
Revision:3.8
This article was previously published under Q316032

SYMPTOMS

When you try to edit old or new documents, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
This command is not available because the document is locked for edit.
You cannot create any new documents and you cannot save documents. Additionally, you may also notice many menu commands are unavailable (appear dimmed).

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CAUSE

This issue occurs when Microsoft Office has not been activated or the issue occurs after the Office program has been activated, and then the program has not been closed. Without activation, Office programs operate in Reduced Functionality mode and exhibit this behavior.

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RESOLUTION

To check whether the product has been activated, click Activate Product on the Help menu. If the product has been activated, a dialog box is a displayed with a statement that the product has been activated. Otherwise, the Office Activation Wizard starts and permits you to activate the product.

Note After you activate the product, you may have to quit the product and then restart the product.

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REFERENCES

For more information about Office activation, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
293151 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293151/) Description of the Office Activation Wizard

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APPLIES TO
•Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
•Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
•Microsoft Office Excel 2003
•Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
•Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
•Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
•Microsoft Office Word 2003
•Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
•Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
•Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
•Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
•Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
•Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Access 2003

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Keywords: 
kberrmsg kbprb KB316032

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