How can I get an editable document from a read only document?

How can I get an editable document from a read only document?

If you press the "Edit File" button in the toolbar while a read-only file is open, you'll get an untitled copy of the file to work with. When you try to save the document you will be prompted for a file name.

What if that doesn't work?

There was a bug introduced in OOo 2.4.1 reagarding the Table of Contents (TOC). If the TOC was protected from editing, it locked the entire document as read-only. The workaround was to right-click the TOC, uncheck the Protected against manual changes checkbox, save the document, close it, then reopen it.

What if that still doesn't work?

File a bug report.