How to fix Read Only status in Word

Greetings Nancy Gregory

Thank you writing to Microsoft community.

On the issue "how to fix an error message that says can't upload changes to a Word document due to read only status."

To have further information on the issue, I would like to know:

1. Is Read only status shown on only one document or it's across all word documents on your computer.
2. Is the file stored on Local computer storage or shared from OneDrive? 

If the status of read only is across all word documents stored on your computer that could be caused by the license issue because when you are using Microsoft 365 when license has expired after 30 days the application goes into read only mode so you can't make changes on the documents.

Please check the license by clicking:

Open the document

1. Select File
2. Click on "Account"
3. Check if the license is valid

If you find the license show "expired" and you consider the license still valid using the above steps please log out and log in again. Otherwise consider seeking support from your organizational IT team to renew the license for your account.

If the license is valid and the document still having such status, and it's only happening on that particular document that might be below reasons:

1.Document is opened in read only mode, to check if the document is not opened in the read only mode follow below steps:

• Open the document in Word.
• In the upper-right corner, look for a mode selector such as Viewing or Reviewing.
• Change it to Editing so the document is fully editable.

2. You can check the file properties by right-clicking on the file and choosing Properties. If the Read-only attribute is checked, you can uncheck it and click OK.

Please refer to this link for the detailed steps: Why did my file open read-only? | Microsoft Support

3.If the document was shared via OneDrive or SharePoint, and you can't make changes that means the user who created the document did not grant you access to edit the document, here is how you can request an edit permission

• Open the document in Word.
• In the upper-right corner, look for a mode selector such as Viewing
• Select "Request More Access"

• Choose "Ask to Edit" then click Send. The user will grant you access to make changes on the document.

Kindly let me know if the above steps have been helpful to you, try above steps and let me know for further insight on the issue.

Looking forward to hearing from you.