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Fix Word File Permission Error

If you get a message similar to "Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error" when trying to save your document there are some easy solutions.

First, try a Save As, and save to a known good destination, like the Desktop. This is particularly useful if you opened the document from an unusual location, such as an email attachment. This will fix the problem if there genuinely is a file permission problem, although that error message is usually misleading and the real cause is something else.

If the above method gives the same error you can try this...

First you need to store the document somewhere safe because the next step is to quit Word. Just use Select All followed by Copy. Now quit from Word, don't save the changes, and restart it. Paste into a new empty document and try the save again. Better still, quit Word and never use it again! (Note: this is a joke, because I don't like Word).

It's more complicated if you have multiple documents open, of course. In that case, copy the contents of each document and paste them into one, then copy that whole document and split it up again after restarting Word and pasting.

Alternatively, copy and paste individual document contents into a different word processor, like Pages, then reverse that after quitting and restarting Word. Or maybe you might want to just use Pages in future (again, kind of joking: I like Pages but if you have always used Word it is probably easier just to continue using it (bugs and all) instead of learning something new).