How to Fix the “Word Cannot Complete the Save Due to a File Permission Error” Issue on Windows

Microsoft Word is a very popular word processor, but while saving a Word file, you might encounter an error that says, “Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error.” The issue mainly appears when you try to save a file copied from an external source.

It may sound scary at first, especially if you have saved progress on the line. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get rid of the error message. Try the below fixes to eliminate the problem for good.

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What Causes the “Word Cannot Complete the Save Due to a File Permission Error” Issue?

As aforementioned, the error mainly appears when you attempt to save a file that doesn’t belong to your system or has been copied from an external source. But there are many more reasons that can be responsible for the problem. Let’s check them out.

Now that you know what causes the issue, let’s check out all the potential fixes.

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1. Try Saving the File With a Different Name and to a Different Location

Before getting into technical fixes, try to save the file with a different name at a different location. As it turns out, if the file has been copied from an external source, Word will not be able to save it with its original name on your system.

So, to fix the issue, consider changing the file name and saving it in a different location. Here’s how to do it.

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2. Turn Off Your Antivirus Program

Antivirus programs have a long history of interfering with applications' performance and functions. And from what it looks like, the error in the question can appear due to interference from the third-party antivirus program. So, consider disabling the antivirus and check if it fixes the problem.

You can disable a third-party antivirus program by right-clicking on its icon in the system tray and choosing to disable protection from the context menu. If you use Microsoft Defender, follow the below steps todisable Microsoft Defender on Windows 11.

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That’s it. seek to save the file again and check if the problem continues.

3. Take Ownership of the File

The error message will appear if you don’t have full access to the file. This will happen often when the file has come from an external source.

As a solution, you can try taking full ownership of the file. Here’s how to do it.

Microsoft Word Icon

4. Repair Microsoft Office

MS Word will be unable to save the file due to any corruption in Microsoft Office. You can get rid of these corrupt files by using the Office repair feature. Here’s how.

Microsoft Office will now look for and resolve any corruption present in the suite.

5. Launch Word in Safe Mode

The next solution to try is to launch Microsoft Word in safe mode and disable all the extensions. you may do it by following the below steps.

Relaunch Word and try to save the document.

8 . Update Microsoft Word

If you are using an outdated version of Microsoft Word, you’re likely to face the Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error. You will have to update Microsoft Word to fix the problem. Here’s how to do it.

Once the update process is complete, reboot the system and check for the problem.

9. Download the Latest Windows Update

Microsoft releases new updates for Windows to fix minor issues and improve overall system performance. So, downloading the latest Windows update can be an effective way to resolve the error.

it’s possible to update the OS like so:

Windows will now look for and download all the pending updates.

Save Word Files Without Any Issue

If you have all the required permissions, it’s very easy to save and manage files on Microsoft Word. But if you cannot save the file due to a permission error, try the above solutions to resolve the problem.

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