Microsoft Word 2007
Protecting a Document
Microsoft Word's tracking and editing features are designed to make collaborative work run more smoothly. The key feature, Track Changes, records all revisions to a document and registers who made which changes at what point in the revision process. Protect Document can provide a document with different levels of protection so that only collaborators are allowed to make changes to the document.
Protecting for Tracked Changes and Comments
Preparing a document for review is the first step in a collaborative project document. By protecting the document for review, a writer can specify how much revision he or she wants to allow reviewers. By selecting tracked changes, reviewers are free to edit the document’s text, format and style, but not to change edits made by other reviewers. By selecting Comments, reviewers can add comments, read other comments, but not change or delete other's comments.
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Open the document for review
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From the Review tab, in the Protect group, click PROTECT DOCUMENT...
The Protect Document sub-menu appears. -
From the Protect Document sub-menu, select Restrict Formatting and Editing
The Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane appears.
- To protect changes or comments made by reviewers, under Editing restrictions
- Select Allow only this type of editing in the document
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From the pull-down list, select Tracked changes or Comments
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Click YES, START ENFORCING PROTECTION
Protecting with a Password
You can designate a password to protect the document from changes made by unauthorized reviewers. Before changes can be made to the document, it must be unprotected using the password. Keep a list of passwords and their corresponding documents in a safe place. If the password is lost, the document may be unrecoverable.
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Open the document for review
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From the Review tab, in the Protect group, click PROTECT DOCUMENT...
The Protect Document sub-menu appears. -
From the Protect Document sub-menu, select Restrict Formatting and Editing
The Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane appears.
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Under Editing restrictions, select Allow only this type of editing in the document
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Under Start enforcement, click YES, START ENFORCING PROTECTION
Start Enforcing Protection dialog box appears.
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Select Password
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In the Enter new password (optional) text box, type a password
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In the Reenter password to confirm text box, type the password for confirmation
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Click OK
Unprotecting a Document
When you no longer need to have your document protected, you can remove the protection.
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From the Review tab, in the Protect group, click PROTECT DOCUMENT...
The Protect Document sub-menu appears. -
From the Protect Document sub-menu, select Restrict Formatting and Editing
The Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane appears. -
In the Protect Document task pane, click STOP PROTECTION
The document protection is removed.
