Office 2003 documents open read-only in Internet Explorer (870853)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003
  • Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Student and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Microsoft Office 2003 document in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the document opens with read-only permissions, and you cannot make changes to the document.

CAUSE

This problem occurs in, but is not limited to, the following scenarios:
  • You click a hyperlink to an Office document, and the hyperlink is from another Office document.
  • You click a hyperlink to an Office document, and the hyperlink is from an e-mail message.
  • You click a hyperlink to an Office document, and the hyperlink is from a Microsoft SharePoint Services site or a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server site.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem so that you can open documents that are in the Internet or Local intranet security zones in Internet Explorer with read/write permissions, you must add the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Internet\ OpenDocumentsReadWriteWhileBrowsing = 1

To do this, follow these steps.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  1. Quit all Office 2003 programs that are running.
  2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
  3. Locate and then right-click the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Internet
  4. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
  5. Type OpenDocumentsReadWriteWhileBrowsing, and then press ENTER.
  6. Right-click OpenDocumentsReadWriteWhileBrowsing, and then click Modify.
  7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
  8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/27/2006
Keywords:kbprb KB870853
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