Resolved Win-7 seems to create a 'read-only' problem in Word

Looking for some help with an annoying little problem that I now have...
Recently switched from an older 32-bit Win-XP machine to a newer, juicier 64-bit Win-7 machine...

Because of a couple of past horrible experiences with hard disk crashes, I've gotten in the habit of keeping all my data files and backup on external hard drives...
And so when I made the switch, I simply connected these external HDD's by USB ports

Still using MS Office Professional 2003 as my office suite…

My problem is that all of my old Word documents somehow got switched so that they now open only as 'read-only' files. Manageable on a file-by-file basis, but a real pain in the butt when we're talking about a history of literally hundreds of files…

The same thing appears to be happening with my Excel files…
Quick testing of a couple of PowerPoint files indicates that they may be okay...

Anyone know of a fairly straightforward 'batch' solution ??
Have tried a couple of freeware utilities, but they haven't worked "“ and I'm also a bit concerned about possibly creating new and different problems…

Any effective assistance will be deeply appreciated…

Steve Brogan
Westport, CT

 

Open the folder the files are in, then, press ctrl + a to select them all. Then, right click on one of them, choose properties and uncheck read only. The attribute will be removed from all of those that you selected. If only some of them are read only it becomes a bit more of a hassle but you can select them manually by clicking on each file you want while pressing the ctrl key. If they are grouped together, click on the first file you want, then press and hold the shift key while clicking on the last one you want. All of those from the first to the last will be selected.

 

First -- to answer Steve Jones' question -- I got a small window saying that the file is 'read-only' and that I cannot save it unless I give it a new name. I did this in a number of individual cases as they came up; altering the filename slightly, saving it, then deleting the original file, then resetting the filename on the (new) file back to the original. But this, to me, is a
'kludge" and a "workaround ". It works, but it is inelegant as hell.

It is also what I was referring to in my original post when I said: "Manageable on a file-by-file basis, but a real pain in the butt when we're talking about a history of literally hundreds of files "Â. Wanted to avoid having to do this one file at a time.

Second -- Pete C's question about the permissions turned out to be a very good one. I was vaguely aware of the existence of these but had never played with them and didn't know much about them.

Finally found that I could right-click on the name of one of the data drives, then go to Properties/ Security and make changes in permissions there (at the folder/ drive level). Once I saved these changes, Win-7 would race through what appeared to be every file within the folder (i.e. drive), apparently making the changes to each. This was the 'batch process'/ batch solution that I was looking for.

A quick check of a small number of documents after doing this indicates that the problem may now be solved

Zander -- Thanks for your input as well. Didn't get to try your suggestion since the problem seemed to be resolved by my trip down the 'permissions' path

Actually, thanks to all three of you -- both for your thoughts and also for a quick response

Steve Brogan
Westport, CT