If OneNote is opening in Read-Only Mode on your Windows 11/10 computer, the solutions provided in this article will help you. This issue makes OneNote impossible to use because users cannot make or save changes to their notebooks.
OneNote is opening in Read-Only Mode
Use the following suggestions if OneNote is opening in read-only mode. Before proceeding, sign out of OneNote, restart your computer, and sign in again. We also suggest you check for Office Updates manually and install them (if available). If this does not work, use these fixes:
- Disable the Read-only mode
- Contact the owner of the notebook
- Clear OneNote cache
- Copy the notebook backup to another location
- Export the affected notebook
All these fixes are provided below in detail:
1] Disable the Read-only mode
This solution applies if you have saved the OneNote notebook locally on your system, such as in a location other than OneDrive. First, close OneNote (if it is open), then right-click on the notebook saved locally on your hard drive. Select Properties. Uncheck the Read-only checkbox under the General tab. Click Apply and then click OK.
2] Contact the owner of the document
If you are experiencing this issue with a shared notebook, you need to contact the owner of the notebook to give you the editing rights. If you are the owner of the notebook and the issue is occurring with the users whom you have shared the notebook with, review the sharing settings by following these steps:
- Open OneNote Notebook.
- Click Share > Share Entire Notebook.
- Click on the Shared with links at the bottom of the popup window.
- Go to the Links tab and delete the user who does not have the editing rights.
Now, add that user again with the editing rights.
3] Clear OneNote cache
A corrupt OneNote cache can also be the cause of this problem. We suggest you clear the OneNote cache and see if it helps.
By default, OneNote saves cache in the Cache folder at the following location on the C drive:
C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneNote
In the above path, replace the user with the correct username.
4] Copy the notebook backup to another location
If the issue still persists, create a new notebook, then copy all the sections of the affected notebook to the new notebook. For this, you need to use OneNote backup files because copy and move options do not work for the notebook sections opened in the Read Only mode.
By default, OneNote saves the notebook backups at the following location:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneNote\16.0\Backup
Replace the username with the correct user name in the above path. Go to the above path and copy the required notebook. Paste the copied notebook to another location on your hard drive locally. If you cannot go to the above location manually, follow these steps:
- Open OneNote.
- Go to File > Info.
- Click Open Backups. The Open Backup popup will appear. Now, click on the address bar in that popup window and copy the address.
- Open the File Explorer, paste the copied path in the address bar, and hit Enter.
After pasting the notebook to another location on your hard drive, open any one of its sections. Now, right-click on the section in OneNote and select Move or Copy. A new window will appear. Select the newly created notebook and click Copy. Now, see if you can edit that section in the new notebook. The issue should not occur this time.
If this works, repeat these steps to copy all the sections to the new notebook.
5] Export the affected notebook
If you do not have a backup of your notebook, you can follow this method.
- Open the notebook in OneNote.
- Right-click on any one of the available sections of that notebook and select Export.
- Select a location on your computer to save the exported file.
Now, go to the location where you have exported the section of your notebook and double-click on it to open it. See if you can edit the notebook this time or if the same issue appears. If the issue does not appear, you can export all the sections one by one or export the entire notebook at once.
That’s it. I hope this helps.
How do I stop my files from opening in read-only mode?
If your files are opening in read-only mode, you can clear the Read-only attribute for those files. To do so, right-click on the file and select Properties. Now, under the General tab, uncheck the Read-only checkbox. After that, click Apply and then click OK.
How do I change to edit mode in OneNote?
If you are working with a shared notebook, you cannot change it to the edit mode because the owner of the notebook has not granted you access to edit the notebook. In this case, you need to contact the owner of the notebook to get the editing access.
Read next: The deleted sections keep reappearing in OneNote.