Sometimes when you are working with several others on a document, some human error can happen, like editing a part of the document that is important to you and you want to remain untouched.
There is a feature in MS Word that you can set a password to the content you don’t want to be edited.
Fast Access:
- Activate the developer menu
- Restrict Editing feature in MS Word
- How to delete content’s password in Microsoft Word
Set a password to MS Word’s Content
One common problem is people think that Microsoft Word will protect the selected parts from editing. But, when you select a part of your document and set protection, all the documents will be read-only except the parts you select.
It means you are selecting parts of your document that people can edit.
And there is another part you can choose, which people can edit the details you locked.
Notice: just the parts you select are editable
We will explain all of this in the following sections.
Activate the developer menu
To activate the Developer menu, go to the File > options > Customize Ribbon, and then check the Developer.
Notice: If it’s unclear, we have an Article for starting the Developer menu in Word.
Restrict Editing feature in MS Word
The Restrict Editing feature exists in the Review Tab and the developer tab. By default, the developer tab does not exist in the Ribbon, and you must activate it from MS Word Options.
Path: go to the Developer Tab or Review Tab > click on the Restrict Editing in the Protect group
When you click Restrict Editing, the “Restrict Editing” pane will appear on the right. Now check the “Allow only this type of editing in the document” checkbox. There are two checkboxes; you should check the “editing restrictions” checkbox to protect your content from editing.
When you check the editing restriction checkbox, the drop-down menu underneath will be enabled. Set the drop-down menu to “No changes(Read only).
So now, you must select the parts of your content you want everyone or specific people to edit.
Notice: MS Word will automatically make all parts of the document Read only. Except for the parts you select.
When you select your text, go back to “Restrict Editing.” There is another option that lets you set which people can edit the text you select.
For example, you are on a company network and want to allow specific people to edit the text. Select “More users” and insert the user’s name.
Notice: this requires access to a central network user directory.
That’s it; now click on the “Yes Start Enforcing Protection” in the “Start enforcement” section.
The “Start Enforcing Protection” dialog box will appear, and you should Set a password and press Ok.
How to delete content’s password in Microsoft Word
Path: go to the Developer Tab or Review Tab > click on the Restrict Editing in the Protect group > click on the Stop Protection in the Restrict editing sidebar(at the bottom of the sidebar).