MS Windows Productivity Tip — Remove Read-Only Property of Multiple Files

© 2010 Ugur Akinci
Whether you are working with a set of Adobe FrameMaker or MS Word files, it doesn’t matter: if your files are read-only, you won’t be able to save your changes.
Your machine will give an error and remind you that since your files are Read-Only, you cannot save the changes you’ve made.
That can be quite a nuisance if you’ve worked half an hour on your edits already and you’re up against a deadline.
If you’re working with a single file, the solution is easy:
1) Launch your Windows Explorer.
2) Browse and find the Read-Only file.
3) Right click and select Properties from its pop-up menu to display the Properties dialog box:

4) Unselect the Read-only check-box and click the Apply button. Click OK and you’re done.
Now you can go back, edit the same file and save it with all your edits intact.
QUESTION: But what if you’ve got not one but (let’s say) 98 files in your project folder, 98 files in different formats, and you have no idea which ones could be Read-Only and which others not?
What do you do then?
Can you clean them up wholesale by removing the Read-Only property of all files in a single operation?
Yes, you can.
1) Display all your files inside the Windows Explorer.
2) Click and drag your mouse cursor over them and select them all at the same time.
3) Right-click on all of the selected files, and select Properties from the pop-up menu to to display a slightly different Properties dialog box. Now the Read-only check box will have a GREEN SQUARE in it (for Windows XP but not for Windows 7).
4) Click on the green square in the Read-only check-box until it disappears. (For Windows 7, clear the check mark.)
5) Click the Apply button first, and then the OK button and you’re done!
Now all the selected files are in editable mode and you can save all of them after making the edits you like.