How To Open Document In Read Only Mode In LibreOffice

This tutorial explains the steps to open a document in read-only mode in LibreOffice.

There are many situations where you may want to protect the original content of a document from accidental changes or modifications. Also opening in read-only mode ensures the document formatting stays the same when viewed on different devices or programs.

In simple terms, a read-only document can only be viewed, not edited.

Table of Contents

Make a Document Read-Only Before Opening

The safest and easiest way to open a document in read-only mode is by changing the files read-write attribute to read-only through its properties. Follow these steps.

Navigate to the document file, then right-click it.
Choose Properties from the menu list.
In the dialog window that opens, select the Read-only checkbox and click Apply.

Next time you open the document in LibreOffice, you won’t be able to edit the content. To remove the read-only state from the file, simply uncheck the Read-only box and click Apply.

For GNU/Linux users, the process is similar, but the options may look different.

Right-click on the document file.
Select Properties from the menu.
Go to Permissions tab.
Change the Owner access from Read and write to Read only.

Open a Document as Temporary Read Only

This method of opening a document in read-only mode doesn’t actually prevent you from editing the content. If you choose to edit the content, a consent dialog will appear at the top, but I don’t recommend this personally, as it may still encourage you to accept the warning dialog to edit the document anyway.

To open a document using this method, follow these steps:

Launch LibreOffice or open an existing document.
Go to File > Open from the top menu bar.

Find the file you want to open as read-only.
Select the Read-only checkbox before opening the file.

The document should open in read-only mode, and a dialog will appear at the top that still let you to edit the content if you choose to click the Edit Document button.

Wrapping Up

Opening a document as read-only in LibreOffice is straightforward and can be done using the same method for any type of document, including text documents, spreadsheets, or files associated with applications like Impress or Draw. If you still have trouble understanding the concept, please leave a comment below.