This is a default Microsoft Office behavior. If you click on a hyperlink on a web page in a browser Microsoft Office will open a document as read-only. Opening Web-hyperlinked Microsoft Office documents in read-write mode Hyperlinked documents will still open as read-only. Note that this will only enable Microsoft Office to open files from WebDAV server using Windows Shell (Web Folders / mini redirector), via Microsoft Office 'Open' menu or starting a Microsoft Office application passing a document URL as a parameter. There is no this issue with MS Office 2010 and later versions. If your WebDAV server is non-root (for example Microsoft Office 2007 and earlier may open documents as read-only. Microsoft Office 2007 and earlier may submit OPTIONS and PROPFIND requests to the site root ( and requires the server to respond properly. Your WebDAV server must be configured on the site root in case of MS Office 2007 or earlier. If Microsoft Office is unable to lock the document it will be opened as read-only. Microsoft Office locks documents when creating and opening files for editing. To achieve this the following conditions must be met: Microsoft Office can open files from a WebDAV server and save them back to the server without the need to download them to local file system. Making Microsoft Office to Work with WebDAV Server
