Unable to Amend or Create any Office Document

[Guest]

I am unable to use any Office program (Word/Excel/Publisher/Powerpoint) to
amend existing documents or create new documents. When I start Word and try
to enter text into the new document I get a message "This modification is not
allowed because the document is locked". From reading about Activation it
looks as though Office has decided that Activation has not taken place and so
everything is locked out, however I am sure that I activated Office (Small
Business Edition 2003) when I installed it, I am running XP Media Center
Edition. I have tried running Activate Product from Help menu but nothing
happens (the Help menu clears with no message/wizard displayed).

 

[philo]

I am unable to use any Office program (Word/Excel/Publisher/Powerpoint) to
amend existing documents or create new documents. When I start Word and try
to enter text into the new document I get a message "This modification is not
allowed because the document is locked". From reading about Activation it
looks as though Office has decided that Activation has not taken place and so

<snip>

It's nothing to do with activation...
it's simply that the person who has created the documents has locked them...
as they apparently don't want others to edit them!