There may be a case where you will need to disable a control to read only. The best way I’ve found to do this without a form editing tool, is in SharePoint Designer.

Open SharePoint Designer > Lists and Libraries > double click the list that you need to adjust.

Create a new “Edit” Form (do not delete the original).

Name your form > Select “Edit item form (used to edit existing list items) > select “Set as default form for the selected type > If you have more than one content type, select the one you would like to use > Click OK.

Double click the new form to open

The code window will open > Select the “Advanced Mode” icon in the ribbon.

Look for the line “xsl:template name=”dvt_1.rowedit”.

The controls will be located between the

tags. The first set of

tags contain the label, the second set contains the control that will need to be revised to display in read only mode.

1. Label/Header
2. Control to be changed to read only.

Find the two “ControlMode” tags

Change the “ControlMode” tags from “=Edit” to “=Display” in both tags. In this example I’ve changed two sets of tags.

Save your work > you may receive a “Site Definition Page Warning”, select yes.

Preview your form, in this case the title was empty, and Territory contains the word Northern that is now read only.