Troubleshooting damaged documents in Word for Mac. If this problem occurs only with a single document after you perform the previous steps, the specific document is probably damaged. As a last resort, you can try to access the document in Microsoft Word X or Word 2004 on a Mac, as some older documents are inaccessible with the Word 2008.

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Word

If you don't want anyone to accidentally delete or modify a document, you can make it read-only, which allows everyone to continue reading and copying the contents, but not to change the document in any way. Files can be locked by using the Finder, which makes them read-only.

When a document has been made read-only, only the owner or those with Write privileges can remove the designation. If someone attempts to make changes to a read-only document, the changes can be saved only by making a copy of the document and giving it a new name.

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PowerPoint

If you don't want anyone to accidentally delete or modify a presentation, you can make it read-only, which allows everyone to continue reading and copying the contents, but not to change the presentation in any way. Files can be locked by using the Finder, which makes them read-only.

When a presentation has been made read-only, only the owner or those with Write privileges can remove the designation. If someone attempts to make changes to a read-only presentation, the changes can be saved only by making a copy of the presentation and giving it a new name.

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Excel

If you don't want anyone to accidentally delete or modify a workbook, you can make it read-only, which allows everyone to continue reading and copying the contents, but not to change the workbook in any way.

When a workbook has been made read-only, only the owner or those with Write privileges can remove the designation. If someone attempts to make changes to a read-only workbook, the changes can be saved only by making a copy of the workbook and giving it a new name.

Files can be locked by using the Finder, which makes them read-only and prevents them from being deleted. You can also recommend that a workbook be opened as read-only from within Excel for Mac, but this does not prevent changes from being made.

See also

Last updated: April, 2019