Many users have been using the latest Office 2016. With all the new features, users have also been facing some issues working on Office 2016. One of the many problems is that users were unable to edit existing Word document on Office 2016. Well, this problem is not as big as you interpret it to be, as there are ways by which you can fix it.
What can you do if you are unable to edit Word 2016 document?
Here are some of the fixes you can try out to resolve the issue:
- Disable document protection
If your Word file is password protected, then you cannot edit it. Suppose you don’t want to enter the password every time you access the document, then you have to disable the file protection and delete the password.
- Open Word 2016 file
- Go to the Developer tab (if you don’t have the Developer tab, then go to File – Options – Customize Ribbon – Developer)
- Go to Document Protection in the Protection group
- Navigate to the bottom and click Stop Protection
- Now enter the password for the Word doc, and click OK
- Check if Office 2016 is activated
Another reason you are unable to edit Word 2016 file could be when Office 2016 trial is expired. Many users who didn’t have Office 365 downloaded the Office 2016 trial for a month. So after a month, the trial package will expire. So if you have downloaded the free trial, then make sure you buy Office 365 subscription.
- Disable Add-ins
Corrupt add-ins can cause problems in Office. So you have to disable the add-ins once and for all. As you don’t know which add-in is creating the problem, you need to disable them completely.
- Open Word 2016, go to File – Options
- Click Add-Ins, then disable all the add-ins
- Now restart the program and run without any add-in
You can start installing the add-ins one by one to check which one is causing the problem. Even after uninstalling add-ins, you still are not able to edit Word doc, then install all the add-ins and find another fix for the problem.
Reinstalling programs is a popular troubleshooting method. So you can reinstall Office 2016 to see if it works. Sometimes, if the Word file is corrupted, you won’t be able to edit it. Under such a situation, you can use Word Repair tool to repair Office 2016 Word doc to rid the corruption and work with the file as usual.