You may have found it difficult to delete a document from your PC or Mac because it is classified as Read Only. On Windows or Mac OS X, you can work around this problem by changing the document attributes.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Use the Properties Menu to remove the Read-only attribute
Step 1. Right-click on the document in Windows Explorer
Step 2. From the drop-down menu, choose "Properties"
Step 3. Uncheck the box next to the "Read Only" option in the "Properties" menu
- If the box is checked or grayed out, it may be that the document is in use or that you are not authorized to edit it.
- Close any programs that are using the document. If necessary, log in as an administrator to get permission to edit the document.
Step 4. Delete the document
Method 2 of 4: Use the Attrib command to disable the Read-only attribute
Step 1. Click Start and select Run
If you don't see the Run command, click All Programs> Accessories> Run.
Step 2. Remove the read-only attribute and set the System attribute
Type the following command:
- attrib -r + s drive: \
-
For the test folder, for example, type attrib -r + s c: / test
Step 3. Delete the document
Method 3 of 4: Delete read-only files in Mac OS X using Finder
Step 1. Open Finder
Find the document you want to delete and click it to highlight it.
Step 2. Click the document at the top of the Finder menu, and select Get Info
Step 3. Select the "Privilege" option in the Sharing and Permissions section
Step 4. Click the box next to "Owner
Sets the document to the Read and Write state.
Step 5. Delete the document
Method 4 of 4: Delete read-only documents in Mac OS X using Terminal
Step 1. Select Applications> Utilities> Terminal
Step 2. Type cd
For example, if you want to change permissions for a document in a document folder, type cd Documents.
Step 3. Issue the command ls -I to display the contents of the directory in the long form
The permissions are shown in the leftmost column.
Step 4. Type chmod u + rwx "filename" to give read, write and execute permissions
Close Terminal.
Step 5. Find and delete the document
Advice
- For Mac OS X, you can set document permissions for entire groups. "Read-only" documents can be edited and deleted by other users on your network if you give them access.
- If you still can't delete a read-only document on a Windows computer, try using utilities like MoveOnBoot, Delete FXP Files, Delinv or Unlocker.