# Help! Word won't let me delete or change my document



## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Has anyone else encountered this very frustrating problem? For some strange reason every time I try to make changes to my manuscript I have to save it under another name. It says it's a Read Only, but when I check the properties the Read Only box is not ticked. 
When I try to delete the older versions it says it can't delete it because the document is open - and it's NOT open.
I've tried to copy and paste to a new window but the problem persists.
I now have a string of documents that I can't do anything with  . 

Can anyone offer an explanation? (This is the second document it's happened to.) 

Thanks


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## Ryan Sullivan (Jul 9, 2011)

Check that the folder it's in isn't itself set to read-only. That's my only guess.


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## 71089 (Jul 12, 2013)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Has anyone else encountered this very frustrating problem? For some strange reason every time I try to make changes to my manuscript I have to save it under another name. It says it's a Read Only, but when I check the properties the Read Only box is not ticked.
> When I try to delete the older versions it says it can't delete it because the document is open - and it's NOT open.
> I've tried to copy and paste to a new window but the problem persists.
> I now have a string of documents that I can't do anything with .
> ...


Press CTRL + SHIFT + Escape (hold them all).

A menu will pop up. Windows task manager. See all the tabs? Click on "Processes". Now scroll through there and search for "Word.exe".

It means WORD is still running, even if you think it isn't. Then you can't delete a doc. It must stop running first.

You do that by right mouse clicking on "Word.exe" and click on "end process".

Try to see if you can delete the file now.
If that doesn't work, restarting your computer will.


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## DarkScribe (Aug 30, 2012)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Has anyone else encountered this very frustrating problem? For some strange reason every time I try to make changes to my manuscript I have to save it under another name. It says it's a Read Only, but when I check the properties the Read Only box is not ticked.
> When I try to delete the older versions it says it can't delete it because the document is open - and it's NOT open.
> I've tried to copy and paste to a new window but the problem persists.
> I now have a string of documents that I can't do anything with .
> ...


Right-click my computer and then click Manage
Click System Tools > click on Shared Folders > click on Open Files
See whether the file which you are having problems with is shown as open.
If it is, right-click on it and select "Close Open File".


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

ClarissaWild said:


> Press CTRL + SHIFT + Escape (hold them all).
> 
> A menu will pop up. Windows task manager. See all the tabs? Click on "Processes". Now scroll through there and search for "Word.exe".
> 
> ...


     
It worked. I can delete the unwanted files.
But I still have to save it under a new name as it says Read Only when I try to save the changes. It only happens with certain files so I don't know what is causing it. But at least I can get rid of a string of unwanted files.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

DarkScribe said:


> Right-click my computer and then click Manage
> Click System Tools > click on Shared Folders > click on Open Files
> See whether the file which you are having problems with is shown as open.
> If it is, right-click on it and select "Close Open File".


Thanks

It says 'no open files' .


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## 71089 (Jul 12, 2013)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> It worked. I can delete the unwanted files.
> But I still have to save it under a new name as it says Read Only when I try to save the changes. It only happens with certain files so I don't know what is causing it. But at least I can get rid of a string of unwanted files.


Hehe yay! 

I have the same issue sometimes. I don't know what causes it, but I'm told WORD has a lot of bugs 
You could try saving it as Version 2 and then exit WORD. Then delete version 1 and name Version 2 whatever you wanted number 1 to be. Then restart WORD.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

ClarissaWild said:


> Hehe yay!
> 
> I have the same issue sometimes. I don't know what causes it, but I'm told WORD has a lot of bugs
> You could try saving it as Version 2 and then exit WORD. Then delete version 1 and name Version 2 whatever you wanted number 1 to be. Then restart WORD.


This is what I have been doing - but I was collecting so many copies that I couldn't delete. At least I can now delete them


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## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

Mine was doing that. Do you have Norton Anti-virus? It conflicts with Word and that is exactly what it does. Can't change a file, can't delete it, nothing. There was a fix online, seems to be a common problem. And I deleted Norton. :knock on wood: no problems since. I had to go to MacAfee anti-virus.


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## Carol M (Dec 31, 2012)

You might also try copying and pasting the entire document into a new file. Sometimes, that step will remove the glitch.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Carol M said:


> You might also try copying and pasting the entire document into a new file. Sometimes, that step will remove the glitch.


Thanks.

I've already tried it and the glitch moved right along to the new file


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

Sometimes it happens on long docs that are in compatibility mode. If you can turn that mode off, it may then work for you.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Christa Wick said:


> Sometimes it happens on long docs that are in compatibility mode. If you can turn that mode off, it may then work for you.


Not sure how to do that .

The other doc I had problems with was quite short, but had a lot of pics in it.


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