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You receive a “This modification is not allowed because the document is locked” error message when you modify a document in Word 2007 or in Word 2003

Article ID: 818852 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to make changes in a Microsoft Office Word 2007 document or in a Microsoft Word 2003 document, you receive the following message:

This modification is not allowed because the document is locked.

When you try to find a region in a protected Word document that you can edit (for example, you click Find Next Region I Can Edit on the Protect Document task pane), you receive the following message:

Word has finished searching the document.

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CAUSE

This behavior may occur if the document is protected with an editing restriction of No changes (Read only) or Comments.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, do one of the following, as appropriate for your version of Word.

Word 2007

On the Review tab, click New Comment.

Note If you insert your comments in this document, you can save your changes and then return the document to the sender with your comments.
In the Protect Document task pane, click Unrestricted Access.

Note If the Unprotect Document dialog box appears, the document is password-protected. You cannot stop the protection on this document unless you know the password.

Word 2003

On the Insert menu, click Comments.

Note If you insert your comments in this document, you can save your changes and then return the document to the sender with your comments.

-or-
On the Protect Document task pane, click Stop Protection.

Note If the Unprotect Document dialog box appears for you to type a password, the document is password-protected and you cannot stop the protection on this document unless you know the password.