Make a Document Read-Only

Sometimes, you may have a document that needs a review, but you do not want reviewers to randomly modify your content. Aspose.Words allows you to make the permission of your document read-only so that the content can be copied or read, but not modified. This will prevent content from being removed or added to your document.

Applying the read-only option to your document does not prevent someone from creating a new copy of it and saving it with another name.

This article explains how to make a document read-only.

How to Make a Document Read-Only

Aspose.Words has the public class WriteProtection that specifies write protection settings for a document. You do not create instances of this class directly.

Write protection shows whether the author has recommended opening a document as read-only and/or requiring a password to modify the document.

Aspose.Words allows you to make a document read-only to restrict editing by using the read_only_recommended property and the set_password method.

In Microsoft Word, you can create a Read-Only document in a similar way using both:

• “Always Open Read-Only” (File → Info → Protect Document)
• “Password to modify” (Save As → Tools → General Options → Password)

Users can also restrict document editing by selecting ProtectionType as READ_ONLY, but this is another feature that provides more advanced protection capabilities. There is such a function in Microsoft Word, respectively, it is implemented in Aspose.Words.

ProtectionType will be described in detail in one of the following articles – “Restrict Document Editing”.

The read_only_recommended property is password-secured, so if you do not set a password before applying the read_only_recommended property, then other users can simply open the document as if it were unprotected. You access the document protection settings and set a write protection password via the set_password method.

Note that the password being set is just a property in a document that can be removed if the document properties are accessed. Accordingly, such a password is not a guarantee of the document security.

If you need to check if a document has a write protection password that restricts it from editing, you can use the is_write_protected property.

The following code example shows how to make a document read-only:

import aspose.words as aw

doc = aw.Document()
builder = aw.DocumentBuilder(doc)

builder.write("Open document as read-only")

# Enter a password that's up to 15 characters long.
doc.write_protection.set_password("MyPassword")

# Make the document as read-only.
doc.write_protection.read_only_recommended = True

# Apply write protection as read-only.
doc.protect(aw.ProtectionType.READ_ONLY)
doc.save(docs_base.artifacts_dir + "DocumentProtection.ReadOnlyProtection.docx")

Remove Read-Only Restriction

If you do not want a user to open your document as read-only, you can simply set the read_only_recommended property to False or select ProtectionType as NO_PROTECTION.

The following code example shows how to remove read-only access for a document:

import aspose.words as aw

doc = aw.Document()
            
# Enter a password that's up to 15 characters long.
doc.write_protection.set_password("MyPassword")

# Remove the read-only option.
doc.write_protection.read_only_recommended = False

# Apply write protection without any protection.
doc.protect(aw.ProtectionType.NO_PROTECTION)
doc.save(docs_base.artifacts_dir + "DocumentProtection.RemoveReadOnlyRestriction.docx")

---

FAQ

1. Q: How do I make a document read‑only using Aspose.Words for Python?
   A: Set a password with doc.write_protection.set_password("yourPassword"), enable the read‑only recommendation with doc.write_protection.read_only_recommended = True, and then apply the protection using doc.protect(aw.ProtectionType.READ_ONLY).

2. Q: Is a password required to use the read_only_recommended property?
   A: No, the property can be set without a password, but without a password any user can remove the recommendation by clearing the property. Adding a password makes the setting harder to bypass.

3. Q: What is the difference between read_only_recommended and doc.protect(ProtectionType.READ_ONLY)?
   A: read_only_recommended only suggests that the document should be opened as read‑only; it does not enforce protection. doc.protect(ProtectionType.READ_ONLY) actually enforces the read‑only mode and, when combined with a password, prevents editing unless the password is supplied.

4. Q: How can I remove the read‑only restriction from a document?
   A: Set doc.write_protection.read_only_recommended = False and call doc.protect(aw.ProtectionType.NO_PROTECTION). This clears both the recommendation and any applied protection.

5. Q: Does making a document read‑only stop users from copying its content?
   A: No. Read‑only protection only prevents modifications to the document. Users can still select, copy, and paste the content unless additional restrictions (e.g., encryption) are applied.