Bug 170393 - XML Form document turns read-only
Summary: XML Form document turns read-only
Status: RESOLVED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.4.2 release
Hardware: ARM macOS (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2026-01-19 22:18 UTC by Sven Neuhaus
Modified: 2026-01-20 18:32 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
XML Form document (.odt) that demonstrates the issue. (41.40 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2026-01-19 22:20 UTC, Sven Neuhaus
Details
Screenshot shows where to switch Desin mode. (110.46 KB, image/png)
2026-01-20 09:57 UTC, Robert Großkopf
Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Sven Neuhaus 2026-01-19 22:18:56 UTC
Description:
I created a new XML Form document on macOS with Libreoffice Writer and exported it a few times successfully as PDF/UA.
Then I upgraded Libreoffice to 25.8.4. (this may not be related).
Now when I access my document, all areas of the document are read-only, except the form fields themselves and one image at the beginning of the document. 

I have tried turning "design mode" on and off but it did have any effect.

I have tried to go to "Sections" in the Format menu, but the entire Format menu is greyed out (with the exception of "Watermark…").

When I open the .odt document on another Mac with Libreoffice 25.2.2.x I get the same issue.

I'm attaching the problematic document to this issue.


Steps to Reproduce:
1. open file
2. position the cursor on some text element. Note that the cursor doesn't appear
3. enter text. A popup appears "Write-protected content cannot be changed. No modifications will be accepted".


Actual Results:
see above

Expected Results:
There must be a way to disable this read-only attribute.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
The software should have told me how to remove the write protection.
Comment 1 Sven Neuhaus 2026-01-19 22:20:00 UTC
Created attachment 205091 [details]
XML Form document (.odt) that demonstrates the issue.
Comment 2 Sven Neuhaus 2026-01-19 22:21:16 UTC
To be more specific, I successfully exported it as PDF Form (PDF/UA compliant).
Comment 3 Robert Großkopf 2026-01-20 09:56:25 UTC
If you open a *.odt-file with form elements the file will be opened for input data by default. 
Have set "Design Mode On" and could edit the file here.

Version: 25.8.4.2 (X86_64)
Build ID: 290daaa01b999472f0c7a3890eb6a550fd74c6df
CPU threads: 6; OS: Linux 6.4; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb)
Locale: de-DE (de_DE.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 4 Robert Großkopf 2026-01-20 09:57:06 UTC
Created attachment 205101 [details]
Screenshot shows where to switch Desin mode.
Comment 5 Sven Neuhaus 2026-01-20 18:32:04 UTC
That did the trick! I think it's highly confusing that there are two different buttons both labelled "Design mode" but only one of these buttons solves the issue (and of course the concept of a design mode is confusing to begin with, at least for me).

So hopefully Libreoffice can be improved in terms of helping the user to find out how to end the read-only mode.