You cannot open a Word document that uses Editing Restrictions in an earlier version of Word

If you open a Microsoft Office Word 2007 or Microsoft Office Word 2003 document that uses Editing Restrictions in an earlier version of Word, the document cannot be edited even if you have been granted password permissions to the document.

This problem may occur when you use password protection to help protect a Word document. The problem does not occur when you use Information Rights Management (IRM).

Word 2003 and later versions of Word have a feature that permits you to assign permissions to specific parts of a document to specific users. When you use this feature, you can make the overall content read-only while you grant editing permissions to specific users for specific parts of the document. When you open such a file in an earlier version of Word, the document opens as protected for comments, permitting users to make comments to the file but not permitting edits to the content. If you receive a document that is protected for comments, you can remove the protection.

To do this, perform one of the following actions:

• In Word 2007, click the Review tab, click Protect Document in the Protect group, click Restrict Formatting and Editing, and then click Stop Protection.
• In Word 2003, click Unprotect on the Tools menu.

For more information about using Information Rights Management with Office, search for "Information Rights Management" in the Online Help for Word.

This behavior is by design.