How to make the Tkinter text widget read only?

In Tkinter, you can make a text widget read-only by setting its state configuration to DISABLED. This prevents users from editing the content while keeping it visible and readable.

Making Text Widget Read-Only

Use the config() method to change the state of a text widget ?

from tkinter import *

# Create an instance of window
win = Tk()
win.geometry("700x400")
win.title("Read-Only Text Widget")

def disable_button():
    text.config(state=DISABLED)

def enable_button():
    text.config(state=NORMAL)

# Label
Label(win, text="Type Something", font=('Helvetica bold', 25), 
      fg="green").pack(pady=20)

# Create a Text widget
text = Text(win, height=10, width=40)
text.pack()

# Create Disable and Enable Buttons
Button(win, text="Make Read-Only", command=disable_button, 
       fg="white", bg="red", width=20).pack(pady=10)

Button(win, text="Make Editable", command=enable_button, 
       fg="white", bg="green", width=20).pack(pady=5)

win.mainloop()

Text Widget States

Tkinter text widgets have three possible states ?

Setting Initial Read-Only State

You can create a text widget that starts as read-only ?

from tkinter import *

win = Tk()
win.geometry("500x300")

# Create read-only text widget with initial content
text = Text(win, height=8, width=50, state=DISABLED)
text.pack(pady=20)

# To add content to disabled text widget, temporarily enable it
text.config(state=NORMAL)
text.insert(1.0, "This text widget is read-only.\nYou cannot edit this content.")
text.config(state=DISABLED)

win.mainloop()

Programmatic Content Updates

To update content in a disabled text widget, temporarily enable it ?

from tkinter import *

win = Tk()
win.geometry("600x400")

def update_content():
    # Temporarily enable to modify content
    text.config(state=NORMAL)
    text.delete(1.0, END)
    text.insert(1.0, "Content updated programmatically!\nThis widget remains read-only.")
    text.config(state=DISABLED)

# Create read-only text widget
text = Text(win, height=10, width=50, state=DISABLED)
text.pack(pady=20)

# Add initial content
text.config(state=NORMAL)
text.insert(1.0, "Initial read-only content")
text.config(state=DISABLED)

# Button to update content
Button(win, text="Update Content", command=update_content, 
       bg="blue", fg="white", width=20).pack(pady=10)

win.mainloop()

Conclusion

Set state=DISABLED to make a Tkinter text widget read-only. Temporarily enable it with state=NORMAL when you need to update content programmatically. This approach is perfect for displaying information that users should read but not modify.