Uneditable document with no obvious locking

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: John Dough (pen_at_dejo.com)
Date: 01/11/05 

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 10:01:58 -0700

I received a file from my bank (instructions for wiring money) in .doc
format, and when I opened it I was unable to cut/copy/paste, or for that
matter access any of the text in the document. I checked the file info in
the OSX Finder and there did not seem to be any access restrictions. I
looked at the file properties in Word and did not see anything unusual.

Next I saved the file as RTF, closed it, and opened the RTF file in
TextEdit. Finally I was able to access the content as one would expect to.
However, when I re-opened the RTF file in Word, I was still unable to access
the document for anything other than reading it.

Can someone tell me what is going on with this document. It is obviously
protected somehow, but how does one determine how it is protected. Also, if
this is Microsoft's idea of "protection", it obviously is not very good if
one can circumvent it by saving the file in another format and opening that
in a Text Editor.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Replacement for MS Office
    ... graphics in a RTF file opened on any other platform than OS X, and RTFD is a Mac only format. ... and it's not my intention to make assertions as to whether Bean or one of the OpenOffice implementations are "better" or more to be preferred. ... As to the RTFD format, what it seems to do is to wrap into an openable folder an RTF file for the text of the document in question, plus separate files for all the graphics elements you add to the document, in such a way that Bean can display the full document on screen with all the graphics elements properly positioned and formatted in the document. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.apps)
  • RE: Working with protected files...
    ... I think format columns is for width only. ... do check format columns and rows and you will be all right. ... As far as protection/unprotection when you run a macro, ... password protection back on. ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.programming)
  • Re: How to protect so SOME columns stay hidden?
    ... > I'm looking to set up protection on a worksheet so that the hidden columns ... > format ALL columns. ... if I could tidy up the visible spreadsheet even more by hiding ...
    (microsoft.public.excel)
  • RE: Formatting a Pivot Table
    ... tables so perhaps Excel does too. ... not seeing a format menu when a cell is selected strongly ... You mentioned earlier that there was no protection, ... I tried to format and when I click Format, ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.programming)
  • Re: Purchasing The Standard
    ... >either violating the copyright license or getting into a very gray area. ... However, I didn't circumvent the copy protection of the document, ... How would another format help? ... >I don't have specifics relating to the standard, as I don't own a PDF copy, nor ...
    (comp.lang.cpp)