Protecting Parts of a Document

Word allows you to protect parts of a document so that they cannot be changed. This is done through Word's implementation of its forms feature. The idea behind forms is that you can specify the information to be entered in a form using special controls, and then you protect the form so that you can only enter data by using those controls; no other information in the protected portion of the form can be changed. If you didn't define any controls for the form, then all the information still remains protected, and you end up with a document that cannot be changed.

When you protect your document, you can also specify that only specific sections of the document be protected. Sections, in Word, are defined by the presence of section breaks. You insert a section break by displaying the Page Layout (Layout if you are using Word 2016 or a later version) tab of the ribbon and clicking the Breaks tool. Once your document is divided into sections, you can protect a section by following these steps:

1. Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
2. Click the Restrict Editing tool, in the Protect group. Word displays the Restrict Formatting and Editing (Word 2007 or Word 2010) or the Restrict Editing (Word 2013 or a later version) task pane at the right of your document.
3. In section 2 of the task pane (Editing Restrictions), select the check box. This enables the drop-down list in the section.
4. Using the drop-down list, choose Filling in Forms. Word makes the Select Sections link available, right under the drop-down list. (The link is only made available if your document contains multiple sections.)
5. Click the Select Sections. Word displays the Section Protection dialog box.
6. Make sure that only the section (or sections) you want protected are selected in the list of sections.
7. Click on the OK button. Word closes the Section Protection dialog box.
8. In the task pane, click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button. Word displays the Start Enforcing Protection dialog box.
9. Enter a password for the protection, if desired. (You'll need to enter it twice.)
10. Click OK.
11. Close the Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane.

At this point you cannot change anything in the document sections you specified in step 6, unless there were forms controls in that section.

Notice that protection is done in Word on a section-by-section basis. (If there is only one section in the document, then the whole document is protected.) This means that you cannot protect other objects, such as text boxes or table cells. There is a way, however, that you can protect an entire row in a table. All you need to do is insert a continuous section break at the beginning of the row you want to protect, and then insert another continuous section break at the beginning of the row following the one you want to protect. You can then follow the above steps to protect the section you just created—the one containing a single table row.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7071) 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 Parts of a Document.