Locking your Word document has many benefits. You can make what-if comparisons to see how some changes will affect your document. As you have locked your document, there is no danger of the changes becoming permanent. You can change the document as you want, and if the result is not acceptable, you simply walk away. Your original document remains safe.
The above works at a personal level. But you may be sharing a document. If you do not want others to make any changes, you must lock it more securely. Therefore, you protect the document from editing by making it read-only.
3 ways to Lock a Word Document:
- Lock it for personal use
- Lock parts of the document for public use
- Lock the entire document for public use
Let us start.
Method #1: Lock your document for personal use.
Setp #1: Open the document
Open the document that you want to lock.
Step #2: Open Protect Document menu
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar.
This opens the File menu. Click on Info on the left-hand side.
This opens the Info menu.
On the right-hand side, click on the Protect Document icon.
This opens the Protect Document menu.
Click on Always Open Read-Only.
The Protect Document menu closes, and Word shows a feedback:
To Prevent accidental changes, the document has been set to open as read-only.
Save the document and close it.
Step #3: Open the document again
Next when you open the document, Word offers two choices:
Open the document read-only – if you click on Yes
Open the document for editing – if you click on No
Whether you open the document read-only or for editing is now your personal choice.
Let us open the document read-only. Click on Yes.
Word opens the locked document and allows you to edit it. However, when you want to save the changed document, Word gives a warning:
We can’t save this file because it’s read-only.
However, Word will allow you to save your changes if you save it under a new name or in a new location.
Click on Ok. You can save the changes in your document under a new name or in a new location.
Step #4: Remove the lock.
Open the document in editing mode.
Repeat Step #2.
This time, Word removes the lock and shows the feedback:
Control what type of change people can make to this document.
Method #2: Lock parts of a document for public use.
Step #1: Open the document
Open the Word document, in which you want to lock some parts from editing.
Step #2: Open Protect Document menu
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar.
This opens the File menu. Click on Info on the left-hand side.
This opens the Info menu on the right side.
In the Info menu, click on the Protect Document icon.
This opens the Protect Document menu.
Step #3: Open the Restrict Editing dialog
In the Protect Document menu, click on Restrict Editing.
This opens the Restrict Editing dialog on the right side of the document.
Under Formatting restrictions, click on Limit formatting to a selection of styles. A tick mark must appear within the square on its left.
Under Editing restrictions, click on Allow this type of editing in the document. A tick mark must appear within the square on its left.
In the drop-down list on the second line under Editing restrictions, click on No changes (Read only).
Click on Everyone under Exceptions (Optional). A tick mark must appear within the square on its left.
Step #4: Select regions that you want to allow editing
Select parts of the document that you want to allow editing. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard when selecting them.
Hover the mouse pointer on the right side of Everyone under Exceptions (Optional). A down arrow appears. Click on it.
Three choices will open:
- Find next region this user can edit—Add selected regions for editing.
- Show all regions this user can edit—Display all regions selected for editing.
- Remove all editing permissions for this user—Remove selection of all regions.
Click on Find next region this user can edit. Word responds with a feedback that it has finished searching the document. Click on Ok to close the feedback.
Step #5: Add a password for protection.
Under Start enforcement, click on Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
This opens a dialog box for Start Enforcing Protection.
Under Protection method, click on Password so that a black dot appears in the circle to its left.
Enter the password you want in the box to the right of Enter new password (optional).
Enter the same password in the box to the right of Reenter password to confirm.
Click on Ok to exit the dialog and return to Restrictive Editing dialog.
Word applies a yellow background color highlight to the unprotected areas.
If you do not want the highlight, click on Highlight the regions I can edit. The tick mark in the square on its left must disappear.
Click on the X in the top right-hand corner to exit the Restrictive Editing dialog.
Try to edit the protected areas. The Restrictive Editing dialog opens on the right of the document.
Users can click on one of the two choices to see the regions they can edit:
- Find next region I can edit
- Show all regions I can edit
If they want to edit the protected regions, they can click on Stop Protection at the bottom of the dialog. This will open an Unprotect Document dialog.
They must enter the password in the box under Password.
They must click on Ok to exit the dialog to continue to edit the document.
Step #6: Remove password protection
Open the protected document.
Try to edit any protected region. Word will open the Restricted Editing dialog on the right side of the document.
Click on Stop Protection at the bottom of the dialog.
This will open the Unprotect Document dialog box. Enter the password to remove the restrictions.
Click on Ok to return to the Restricted Editing dialog.
Under the Editing restrictions section, click on Allow only this type of editing in the document. There must be no tick mark inside the square on the left.
Word offers a warning: If you make this change in document protection, Word will ignore all the exceptions in this document.
Click on Yes to accept and exit the dialog.
Word removes any password protection and ignores any exceptions in the document.
Method #3: Lock an entire document for public use.
Step #1: Open the document
Open the Word document that you want to make lock.
Step #2: Open Protect Document menu
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar.
This opens the File menu. Click on Info on the left-hand side.
This opens the Info menu.
On the right-hand side, click on the Protect Document icon.
This opens the Protect Document menu.
Step #3: Open the Restrict Editing dialog
In the Protect Document menu, click on Restrict Editing.
This opens the Restrict Editing dialog on the right side of the document.
Under Formatting restrictions, click on Limit formatting to a selection of styles. A tick mark must appear within the square on its left.
Under Editing restrictions, click on Allow this type of editing in the document. A tick mark must appear within the square on its left.
In the drop-down list on the second line under Editing restrictions, click on No changes (Read only).
Step #4: Add a password to lock the document.
Under Start enforcement, click on Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
This opens a dialog box for Start Enforcing Protection.
Under Protection method, click on Password so that a black dot appears in the circle to its left.
Enter the password you want in the box to the right of Enter new password (optional).
Enter the same password in the box to the right of Reenter password to confirm.
Click on Ok to exit the dialog and return to Restrictive Editing dialog.
Click on the X in the top right-hand corner to exit the Restrictive Editing dialog.
Try to edit the document. The Status bar at the bottom of the screen informs: You can’t make this change because the selection is locked.
Step #5: Unprotect the document
Open the read-only document.
Try to edit it. Word will open the Restricted Editing dialog on the right side of the document.
Click on Stop Protection at the bottom of the dialog.
This will open the Unprotect Document dialog box. Enter the password to remove the restrictions.
Click on Ok to return to the Restricted Editing dialog.
Under the Editing restrictions section, click on Allow only this type of editing in the document. There must be no tick mark inside the square on the left.
Word offers a warning: If you make this change in document protection, Word will ignore all the exceptions in this document.
Click on Yes to accept and exit the dialog.
Word removes any password protection and ignores any exceptions in the document.
Conclusion:
Locking your document is fairly easy. You can lock the document and even some parts of it.
Follow our simple instructions and change or share your document. The best part is that you will not lose your original content.