Why can't I edit this rtf file in Word!?
December 22, 2021 11:46 AM Subscribe
I need to edit a .rft file in Word in order to track changes. I've done this before without problems but for some reason I have a set of documents now that won't allow me to do this and I have no idea why.
The long story short: this is for IRB-related documents. The original template is .rtf. I downloaded the template, opened in word, and wrote the document. Uploaded it to the IRB portal. It was approved. I now need to make changes, but I must track them on the original upload. They say to download the approved version, open in word, and make tracked changes and then re-upload. So I downloaded the approved upload as a rtf and opened in Word. But I cannot make any changes to it. It's locked somehow but I cannot figure out how. I'm trying to figure out if this is something on my end, or if it's been made un-editable by the IRB office. Any ideas?
This is a weird question. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.
The long story short: this is for IRB-related documents. The original template is .rtf. I downloaded the template, opened in word, and wrote the document. Uploaded it to the IRB portal. It was approved. I now need to make changes, but I must track them on the original upload. They say to download the approved version, open in word, and make tracked changes and then re-upload. So I downloaded the approved upload as a rtf and opened in Word. But I cannot make any changes to it. It's locked somehow but I cannot figure out how. I'm trying to figure out if this is something on my end, or if it's been made un-editable by the IRB office. Any ideas?
This is a weird question. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.
Most downloaded files open in Protected View in recent versions of Word, is that your issue? You'll need to disable protected mode for the file to start editing it again, most likely, if that's the case.
posted by Aleyn at 12:56 PM on December 22, 2021
posted by Aleyn at 12:56 PM on December 22, 2021
Response by poster: It isn't read-only or in protected view, which makes me think it's something they did on their end that I can't figure my way around.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:19 PM on December 22, 2021
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:19 PM on December 22, 2021
Have you tried 'Save As' to a new file and editing that? (Another thing to try: editing in Google Docs, the online version of Word, or LibreOffice. Even if the formatting gets screwed up, using those could shed light on what the issue is.)
posted by trig at 1:47 PM on December 22, 2021
posted by trig at 1:47 PM on December 22, 2021
Response by poster: I did try to Save As a new file, no luck.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:59 PM on December 22, 2021
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:59 PM on December 22, 2021
can you just copy/paste the text into a new document and save that one?
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:07 PM on December 22, 2021
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:07 PM on December 22, 2021
Response by poster: can you just copy/paste the text into a new document and save that one?
The only issue with this is that the current one has an approval stamp from the IRB that won't copy to a new document, and the IRB wants you to edit the approved version. I think I just need to contact them at this point.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:27 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
The only issue with this is that the current one has an approval stamp from the IRB that won't copy to a new document, and the IRB wants you to edit the approved version. I think I just need to contact them at this point.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:27 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
Is this maybe the sort of thing (stamp and signatures and IRB and all) where they expect modifications to the document to be strictly additive to the original document? That is, for instance, an edit occurring in a pdf print of the approved document
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 12:28 AM on December 23, 2021
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 12:28 AM on December 23, 2021
FWIW, can you make a copy, rename the copy to DOC extension, and see if Word will now open it?
It's possible, that when you saved it, it did not save as RTF, but DOC, but with RTF extension.
posted by kschang at 7:05 AM on December 23, 2021
It's possible, that when you saved it, it did not save as RTF, but DOC, but with RTF extension.
posted by kschang at 7:05 AM on December 23, 2021
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2. In Windows, not sure if there's something equivalent on Mac: Right-click on the file name and choose Properties, check to see if the 'Read-only' box is checked and/or the downloaded file was marked as "blocked".
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:54 PM on December 22, 2021