Question How do you change a file or folder from Read-Only to Read-Write ?

[jack63ss]

I have Word document files on my tablet SDcard that I would like to edit with Word on Android, but when I open them the app says they are Read-Only. How do I change the file permissions ? I went as far as to install a terminal emulator and try chmod 777 file but the folder structure is 770 so it would not work. I copied these files from my PC onto my tablet and they were not read-only on my PC. I understand how Windows and Unix/Linux manage files, but Android I can not figure out. Thanks

 

[VidJunky]

I found this fairly recent how to video on YouTube answering this question.

Let us know if this answers your question.

Disclaimer, I don't watch every video or read every article I suggest. It is up to the OP to do some research into their issue.

 

[smvim]

With Windows and with Linux, and MacOS, you can change the folder permissions using something like chmod only when it involves a folder that your user status has full access -- i.e. you can alter a folder with 777 permissions but you cannot alter a folder with 741 permissions. (...don't forget there's also a user/group/others class). With Android every device is by design set up with a restricted user class as the default all the time.
With Windows, Linux, or Mac you can set it up to run the user as default with admin/root privileges, something a lot of people do even though that greatly increases the amount of serious OS compromises. Or set it up with the user as default and just have admin/root privileges set up for only on demand.
So you need to root your Android device in order to be able to use commands like chmod on it when it involves restricted access directories. Depending on what model and which version of Android it's running, that may or may not be practical.