Select Tools | Protect Document
This will activate the Protect Document task pane on the right side of the screen as shown below.
To set Editing Restrictions:
Place a check mark in the Allow only this type of editing in the document.
Chose the type of editing from the drop down. Choices are:
o Tracked Changes
o Comments
o Filling in Forms
o No Changes (Read Only)
Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection this will display the password protection dialog box
Enter new password as desired
Reenter password to confirm
Click on OK
Be very careful in setting the password. Remember that passwords are case sensitive AND are not recoverable if forgotten or mistyped.
Use of a difficult password is recommended especially if your document contains highly sensitive information. A strong password will exhibit the following characteristics:
Contain sever or more characters
contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols
is not and does not contain a word
appears random
A strong password might look something like this: V1#7x+n. Now I realize that can be difficult to remember another example might be suppose your initials were SCB and your birth date was July 4th, you could do something like !S7C4B* - it may take some imagination but you have numbers and codes all around you in your life, pick something meaningful. You could fashion it around your car tag number or use part of you phone # or convert the last 4 digits of you phone number to letters.
Should you want to edit the document:
Attempt to edit and the Protect Document task pane will be displayed as follows:
Click on Stop Protection the unprotect document password dialog box will be displayed.
Enter the password
Click on OK
The Task pane will return to the protect document status.
You will need to reset the password each time you edit the document. At that time, you are able to either enter your original password for the document or set a new one. If others have access to the password, its important to notify those users of a changed password.
