Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 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: Protecting Your Revisions.

Protecting Your Revisions

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 26, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

Word includes the ability to protect your document so that only you can make changes to it without Track Changes being turned on. This can be a great help if you want to make sure you are the only one that can make the "final changes" to a document. To enable this level of protection, follow these steps:

Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
Click the Protect Document tool within the Protect group if you're using Word 2007 or Word 2010. If you're using Word 2013, click on Restrict Editing in the Protect group. And for Word 2016 and later users, click on Protect and select Restrict Editing. Word displays the Protect Document pane at the right side of your document.
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.
Using the drop-down list, choose Tracked Changes.
Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. Word displays the Start Enforcing Protection dialog box.
Enter a password (twice) in the dialog box.
Click on OK.
Save the file as normal.

When you protect a document in this way, the Track Changes feature is turned on automatically. With this type of protection turned on, people can still load and edit the document. They cannot, however, turn off Track Changes, nor can they make decisions on which changes will be accepted or rejected.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6265) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Protecting Your Revisions.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Controlling Where a Full-page Border is Printed

When you add full-page borders to your document, you may be bothered to find out that one or more sides of the border ...

Discover More

Dividing Values

When working with large numbers, you may need a way to quickly divide a range of those numbers by a specific value. ...

Discover More

Median of Selected Numbers

Need to find a median value in a series of values? It's easy with the MEDIAN function. What isn't as easy is to derive ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Accepting Only Formatting Changes

When you use Track Changes in a document, Word marks everything that changes. (Makes sense, huh?) If an editor makes a ...

Discover More

Track Changes Thinks the Editor Has Changed

Track changes is a great feature to use when you want to show what has changed in a document. Word should note which ...

Discover More

Getting a Change and Comment Count by Author

Track Changes can be a great tool when you have multiple editors working on a document. If you want to know the names of ...

Discover More

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

View most recent newsletter.

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}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) 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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is four less than 4?

2023-08-30 09:42:36

Angela

Allen, this is such a great tip! A couple of questions: can someone, for example, cut a chapter of a long MS and paste it into a new doc, when the main doc is protected in this way? If so, will the protection (can make Track Changes only) so be effective? Thanks in advance.

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.