No "+' or "-" button in my attribute section

Hello GS, if i click on the actor that is in my scene to open it, most of the attributes are greyed out and there is no + or - button to add or remove an attribute. if i click on the actor in the inspector window it is not greyed out and i have all the buttons. kinda new at this i never really noticed that before. so i'm guessing that if i need to make a change i should do it in the inspector and not the actor in the scene, and do i have to place this actor in the scene again with the changes made? it's been a long day and not much accomplished.