I can not access Word documents saved on my Macbook Pro.

Before you proceed have a current backup plan in the event you have to fall back and restore your user account /data.

Preferable 3 different backup, 2 different methods to ensure your ability to Restore.

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

Use DiskUtility Restore feature https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/restore-a-disk-dskutl14062/mac

lindafromgolden wrote:

Thanks. I followed the instructions to change my permissions for all my documents. I had tried that earlier but didn't complete all the necessary steps, so the step-by-step instructions in the link helped there. At the link it also told me to run a disk program, which I tried, but cancelled after it ran for several hours without completing. But when I restarted my laptop, all was well again. Sooo glad I didn't have to recover and reload everything. And, as a bonus, I found first one and then another useless spammy apps that had lodged in my Applications directory, so I got rid of those too before they started getting pushy.

So, a good outcome all around. Thanks for the help.

Good computing lindafromgolden !