how do I turn off restricted formatting?

[Guest]

I have recieved a document from a colleague and want to amend the formatting
- thing is, when I open the document many of the options on the toolbar are
'greyed out' i.e. underlining, numbering, bulleting e.t.c. When I right click
a piece of text and right click, in the menu that appears the options, paste,
font, paragraph, bullets and numbering are also greyed out.

When I select a piece of text and then select, say, the underlined tool - I
get a box saying 'The command is unavailable because the formatting in the
current document is restricted'?

Any ideas guys?

d.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have recieved a document from a colleague and want to amend the formatting
- thing is, when I open the document many of the options on the toolbar are
'greyed out' i.e. underlining, numbering, bulleting e.t.c. When I right click
a piece of text and right click, in the menu that appears the options, paste,
font, paragraph, bullets and numbering are also greyed out.

When I select a piece of text and then select, say, the underlined tool - I
get a box saying 'The command is unavailable because the formatting in the
current document is restricted'?

Any ideas guys?

d.

Although you don't say what version of Word you're using, this
behavior should appear only in Word 2003. Your colleague has used the
Protect Document task pane to 'restrict formatting' to a particular
set of styles. Had it occurred to you to type that phrase into the
help box, you would have found a description of the feature.

Apparently it was your colleague's intention to prevent you from using
'unauthorized' formatting. You can try to turn off the protection by
going to the Protect Document task pane and clicking the Stop
Protection button. You may find that your colleague has also set a
password to prevent you from doing that.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?amFjb2JpdGU=?=,

I have recieved a document from a colleague and want to amend the formatting
- thing is, when I open the document many of the options on the toolbar are
'greyed out' i.e. underlining, numbering, bulleting e.t.c. When I right click
a piece of text and right click, in the menu that appears the options, paste,
font, paragraph, bullets and numbering are also greyed out.

When I select a piece of text and then select, say, the underlined tool - I
get a box saying 'The command is unavailable because the formatting in the
current document is restricted'?

Yes, I have some ideas. But if your colleague has taken this step, perhaps he
doesn't want you to format the document any differently than he's expressly
allowed? Have you asked him?

Which version of Word do you have (I know which version your colleague, or the
person who provided the document, uses)?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail