Form Fields Are Not Editable in Word Viewer 97-2000 (165909)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word Viewer 97-2000
Microsoft Office Word 2003
Microsoft Word 2002
Microsoft Word 2000
Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

This article was previously published under Q165909

SYMPTOMS

Form fields can not be edited in Microsoft Word Viewer 97-2000. When you try to change a text box form field, you receive the following error message:

Word Viewer cannot edit a document.

Note Check box and drop-down form fields function normally. Note also that this behavior is different from Microsoft Word Viewer for Windows 95 version 7.0.

CAUSE

This functionality is by design. Word Viewer is only for viewing and printing Word documents. To edit a document, you must use Microsoft Word.

RESOLUTION

If you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer, you can edit the document in Word. In Word Viewer 97-2000, on the File menu, click Open for Editing.

This starts Microsoft Word, loads the document, and allows you to make changes.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about Word Viewer 97-2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

165908 How to Obtain Microsoft Word Viewers

Note You can use the Microsoft Word 97-2000 Viewer to view documents that were created in Microsoft Word 97, in Microsoft Word 2000, in Microsoft Word 2002, and in Microsoft Office Word 2003.

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	2/24/2004
Keywords:	kberrmsg kbfield kbprb kbusage KB165909