How to Secure Specific Sections of a Microsoft Word Document

With online collaboration becoming the new standard, it is critical to take adequate security precautions while sharing documents. If the document is sensitive and vital, you may not want it altered in any way. To circumvent this, you can password-protect specific sections of a Microsoft Word document.

By locking sections of a document, you can limit the modifications that can be made to it. There are two ways to accomplish this in Microsoft Word: through the restrict editing tool or through the developer tab's content control option. How to use both approaches is as follows:

FEATURE OF RESTRICTIVE EDITING

Microsoft Word's limit editing tool enables users to define section breaks within a document before locking it. Certain sections of the document are editable, while others are not. The following steps will walk you through the procedure:

Step 1: Click the Start menu, type word, and open the Word document containing the parts you want to lock.

Step 2: On the Ribbon, click on the Review tab and click on the drop-down beneath the Protect option.

Step 3: From the drop-down menu, select Restrict Editing. A new Restrict Editing box should appear to the right of your document.

Step 4: Tick the box beside Allow only this type of modification in the document under the Editing Restrictions section.

Step 5: From the drop-down menu, select No modifications .

Step 6: Using your cursor, choose the areas of the Word document that other users can change.

Step 7: Returning to the Restrict Editing window, in the Exceptions area, either check the box underneath Everyone or click More users to enter the email addresses of individuals who have the ability to change certain sections of the document.

Step 8: In the section labelled Begin Enforcing Protection, click Yes, Begin Enforcing Protection.

Step 9: In the Begin Enforcing Protection dialogue box, specify whether to restrict access to the Word document using a password or user authentication.

Step 10: If the Password option is selected, enter your preferred password. Individual users who appear in the More users exceptions field can modify the document if you pick the User authentication option.

Step 11: To save your decision, click OK.

 step 12: Following that, Word will secure the portions you want to protect.

Option for content management on the developer tab

You can utilise the Developer tab's content management capability to lock specific areas of a Word document. To learn how to apply this strategy, follow the instructions below:

Step1:To launch the Word application, click the Start menu, type word, and press Enter.

Step 2: With the cursor in the Word document, pick the section to which access should be restricted.

Contrary to the previous method, you cannot restrict edit access to several areas of a Word document.

Step 3: Select the Developer tab from the Ribbon and then the Rich Text Content Control option.

Step 4: While remaining in the Developer tab, click the Properties button.

step 5: Provide a name for the content control in the newly launched Content Control Properties dialogue box.

Step 6: Check the box next to the cannot be deleted option for the Content control.

Step 7: Select the checkbox next to the option 'Contents cannot be altered.'

Step 8: Click OK

Step 9: Select Restrict Editing from the Developer menu to open the Restrict Editing window.

step10: Select the box next to Limit formatting to a selection of styles in the Restrict Editing pane.

Step 11: Select Yes, Begin Enforcing Protection from the drop-down menu.

Step 12: In the Begin Enforcing Protection dialogue box, specify whether to restrict access to the Word document with a password or user authentication.

Step 13: If the Password option is selected, enter the desired password. If you pick the User authentication option, each user mentioned in the More users exceptions field will have their access to the document checked before they are permitted to change it.

Step 14: To save your option, click OK.

step 15: Save the document as a last step. Following that, Word will password-protect the parts you've chosen.

IMAGE LOCKING IN MICROSOFT WORD

That's all there is to it for locking areas of a Microsoft Word document. Microsoft Word's restrict editing and content control features can both be used to lock images.