Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Allowing Only Comments in a Document.

Allowing Only Comments In a Document

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 12, 2019)

2

Word includes the ability to protect your document so that only you can make changes to it; everyone else must add their changes by adding annotations or comments. If this type of document protection appeals to you, follow these steps:

  1. Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the Protect Document tool within the Protect group. Word displays the Protect Document pane at the right side of your document (Word 2007). If you are using Word 2010 or a later version click the Restrict Editing tool in the Protect group. Word displays the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane (Word 2010) or the Restrict Editing pane (Word 2013 or a later version.)
  3. In the Editing Restrictions section of the pane, choose the Allow Only This Type of Editing in the Document check box. Word enables the drop-down list under the checkbox.
  4. Using the drop-down list, choose Comments.
  5. Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. Word displays the Start Enforcing Protection dialog box.
  6. Enter a password (twice) in the dialog box.
  7. Click on OK.
  8. Save the file as normal.

With this type of protection turned on, people can still load and read the document. The only difference is that they cannot change anything in the document. The only thing they can do is add comments, which you can later review and act upon as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6044) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Allowing Only Comments in a Document.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Forcing the Date to the Next Wednesday

Working with today's date in Word is easy. Trying to manipulate dates to come up with a future one can be an entirely ...

Discover More

Allowing Sentence Fragments

Grammar, particularly in English, has a perplexing array of rules and exceptions to those rules. Word does a fairly good ...

Discover More

Adding Data Labels to Your Chart

Adding labels to a chart can make the information presented in the chart more understandable. Excel allows you to add ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Protect Your Document Templates

If you want to protect your templates from accidental changes, the best way to do so is by using Windows instead of Word. ...

Discover More

Signing a Protected Form

Tablet PCs are great for some uses, such as signing forms developed in Word. You may run into a problem with getting the ...

Discover More

Turning Off Document Protection

If you protect your document using the tools that Word provides, at some time you may need to turn off that protection. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 + 3?

2020-03-28 05:31:32

Mohd Hasan

Is there any trick to Avoid copying text from my documents.
Problem : I used formatting restriction in my documents and make it only readable (from the save as option). and mail it to my friend.
he copied the text from my documents and submit it to my supervisor.

2020-02-26 16:53:40

Anonymous

Tips.net,
I am wondering how I can write and submit comments on a document when I can only view it. Could you please tell me because I googled "how to comment on a document when you are only allowed to view it" and this is what came up so I was kind of expecting this website to have my answers but it doesn't have them so that is why I am asking you to tell me. If you could then that would be very helpful. Thanks! ;)

Anonymous

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.