MS Word Read & Write permissions

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Recently MS Word (2011) 14.3.8 has begun setting Sharing & Permissions for Staff and Everyone to Read Only. As I often work collaboratively, I'd rather have the default set to Read & Write - as it was until 2 weeks ago. How has this happened and how do I change the preference?
 

chscag

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First, you're behind on Office updates. The current version for Word 2011 is 14.4.4. Make sure you run update as the last several updates have been for security.

As far as sharing & permissions go, that's not set by Office 2011. You probably need to repair OS X permissions. Applications, Utilities, Disk Utility, select repair permissions. If that doesn't work, you may have another problem. The Office data base identity can become corrupt and cause strange problems.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I've updated and repaired permissions, but the issue continues. What I want to do is change the default permission (accessed through Get Info on the file) for "Everyone" to "Read & Write", rather than have to change it for each document. Before I went to China 3 weeks ago this was the case. (Maybe I've picked up some digital strain of H5N1.)
 

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The only other thing I can think of is the overall credentials permissions have changed. Try this:

From Word click on the top menu "File". Then click on "Restrict Permissions" and you should see "Manage Credentials". Click on that and if you're setup to use restricted permissions you can make changes from there. If you're not setup to use restricted permissions you won't be able to do anything from that option. Let us know.
 
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I'm told "Your computer isn't set up to use restricted permissions". I came across this in earlier investigations. Can I change the set up?

I just came upon a post by vansmith on this forum "These Permissions Are Not The Repairs You’re Looking For – A Critical Look at Permissions in OS X"

"Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesn’t repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, or third-party applications."

Cheers.
 

chscag

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It's true that OS X permissions do not effect individual documents but it was a worthwhile shot just in case that your permissions somehow got confused and caused the problem with the documents.

I'm wondering if you might have a corrupted user identity in Word? I've had that happen but it shouldn't change document permissions. However, something is changing the file permissions since the default is read and write.

I just had another thought.... I wonder if the permissions have changed in your normal template? The Word normal template is a blank template which sets up the format for all your documents. I'm not sure if that were somehow set for read only if it would cause all new documents to be the same?

Have you gone back and checked some of your older documents you created say around a month ago or so or at least before this started occurring? If older documents that you created are normal, then it might be easier to track down where the new permissions are being set from.
 
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No its microsoft locking the files back to the persons account for security so people that are unauthorized to view the file can't bad news with this is now you have to go and manually set the read and write permissions again because the last office update really messed up
 
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Yes, it can only be a recent update that changed things. I've tried saving a template with Read & Write permissions for Everyone - no luck. Even originating the file in Pages and exporting as MS Word has the same effect. It looks like just one more bloody thing to swear about with this bloatware application. I wish I could persuade my friends to change to Nisus Writer.
 

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Nothing wrong with the last Office update or others would be complaining about it. I installed it and everything's fine.
 
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your lucky its been **** for a day and a half same issue i tried to give full read and write permissions to a lyrical document for a shows theme song and it told me only the administrator can have read and write access if i try everyone it asks me for my password then says it cannot confirm the users password with the current users thats loged in.
 

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Yes, it can only be a recent update that changed things. I've tried saving a template with Read & Write permissions for Everyone - no luck. Even originating the file in Pages and exporting as MS Word has the same effect. It looks like just one more bloody thing to swear about with this bloatware application. I wish I could persuade my friends to change to Nisus Writer.

You don't even have the most recent update according to the info in your first post. Why don't you update to the latest version (14.4.4) and see if that resolves it?

As far as Nisus Writer, I know nothing about it, however, most folks who do lots of writing use Scrivener which I believe you can buy from the Mac App store.
 

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