In the last couple of days, we have received multiple reports about a change in the behavior of the Text web part in the Modern UI, introduced with the January 2026 CU for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition: When the Text and table formatting pane is open, the Text web part’s content area becomes read‑only. Editing is only possible again after the formatting pane is closed.
This is particularly impactful in scenarios where advanced formatting features — such as subscript, superscript, font color, or highlight color — are required, since these options exist only within the Text and table formatting pane and not in the web part’s toolbar.
Solution
The issue is currently under investigation.
Workaround
Common formatting options — including bold, italic, underline, alignment, and numbered or bulleted lists — can be applied directly from the Text web part toolbar.
If more advanced formatting is needed, the Text and table formatting pane needs to be temporarily closed and reopened for each additional formatting step.
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Actually, the issue is worse than described here. If you have hyperlinks anywhere in the Text web-part the “read-only” effect is occurring and it doesn’t matter if the pane is open or closed. The only way i have found to re-enable editing is to remove the hyperlinks. Meanwhile, our service desk is starting to have a steady flow of users complaining of the issue. I hope this is fixed soon.
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This is a different issue. The fix for the hyperlink issue is planned to be included in April 2026 CU.
Cheers,
Stefan
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Hi @Stefan,
If we have a Sep 2025 CU version and updating it directly to March 2026 CU then we will face this issue?
Also “Trending Issue: SPSE – Configuration Wizard will fail for upgrades from January 2026 CU to March 2026 CU” this issue will occur?
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Hi Prabhu,
when upgrading from September 2025 CU for March 2026 CU you will run into the issue at the top of this page.
There is a simple solution: just run the following PowerShell script on each server machine and it will fix the problematic permissions automatically:
https://aka.ms/stefangossner/Fix-SeptemberCU-Permission-Problem.ps1
The Trending issue you quoted will not happen as you are not upgrading from January 2026 CU but from September 2025 CU.
Cheers,
Stefan