
Restricting editing is Office for the Web differs slightly and does not use passwords.

How to lock a Word document from editing in Office for the Web As covered in Microsoft Word password protection, users can hack a password locked Word document by printing the document to a PDF, copy and pasting it into another document, or saving it in a different document format and then converting back to Word. However, even if you password-protect a Word doc, it does not utilize encryption. The passwords are optional, but if you don’t add a password anyone can click ‘Stop Protection’ and edit the document. In the password box, type a password and then confirm it.In the ‘Start enforcement’ section, select Yes to start enforcing protection.Make sure the pull-down list box says No changes (Read only). Under Editing restrictions, select ‘Allow only this type of editing in the document’.

Here’s how to protect or lock a Word document from editing: This allows you to password protect or password lock a Microsoft Word document from editing in a couple of clicks. Microsoft Word has precisely one built-in protection against editing: its “Restrict Editing” feature or read only mode. How to lock a Word document from editing or make read only See the section on ‘How to password protect a Word document to prevent opening’ for more info. We have extensively covered this in our password protect Word document blog, which explains how to encrypt a Word document with a password. How to lock a Word document from unauthorized access In this blog, we’ll be discussing what does and doesn’t work when locking a Word document and the other steps you can take to prevent the manipulation of sensitive content. There are several ways to lock a Word document from editing, printing, and copying, but many of them are not effective.

Failing to adequately protect or lock a Word document against these actions can lead to various problems: If you’re sharing a Word document with sensitive or confidential information, it’s a good idea to make sure that it can’t be edited, copied, or printed by its recipients.
