Need to edit a Word document, but you don't have permission to make changes? Typically, you will be able to open the file as read-only, but you won’t be able to edit, save, or print it. The file might be locked because:
- Case 1: The document has been protected by password to modify.
We will show you several ways to make a locked document become editable. We assume you know the password to open the Word document. If the document is password-protected, you won't be able to open it without supplying the password. There is no way to bypass password protection, you will have to use some third-party software to find the lost password.
How to edit a Word document locked by password to modify
If you open a modifying protected document, the Password dialog box displays, if you don't have the password, you can click Read Only button to open the document in Read-Only mode so that you can view and read the document, but you will not be able to make changes without knowing the password. You will need to make a copy to enter your changes.
To edit the locked document, you have to save the file as a copy and edit the copy.
1. Click File and select Save As > Browse.
2. In Save as dialog, change the name of file, and then click Save. Now, you've effectively removed read-only, and the file becomes an editable document.
How to edit a Word document locked by editing restrictions
If you forgot the password required to edit a read-only Word document, you need to disable editing restriction on it. Ewa bluetooth speaker manual pdf. There are several ways to remove editing restrictions from Word document without password. Here we are going to show you how to edit a locked Word document on WordPad.
1. Right-click the document locked by editing restriction, and select open with WordPad.
2. When a locked document opened in WordPad, it automatically gets unlocked for editing. And you can edit and save the file without any restrictions now.
3. After saving this file, you've effectively removed editing restrictions, and the file becomes an editable document.
How to edit a Word document locked by mark as Final or Protected View
Office 2016 includes a file protection feature that allows authors to mark a file as Final. This locks the file, preventing any further editing. If an Office file is marked Final, you can easily turn off this feature in the Office 2016 applications by clicking Edit Anyway. After you exit mark as Final, you've effectively removed read-only, and the file becomes an editable document.
How to exit Protected View mode
If you download documents from the Internet and from other potentially unsafe locations can contain viruses, worms, or other kinds of malware that can harm your computer, to protect your computer, these files from these potentially unsafe locations are in Protected View mode. If you know the file is from a trustworthy source, and you want to edit, save, or print the file, you can exit Protected View by clicking Enable Editing on the Message Bar.
After you exit Protected View, you've effectively removed protection, and the file becomes a trusted document. This methods above all apply to Microsoft Office Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, and Word 2007. Problems with flashback toneprint editor.
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- How to Protect Word Documents with Editing Restrictions
If you’re collaborating on a document with several other people, there is always a chance that the content you wanted to remain untouched gets edited. Protect yourself from human error by protecting specific parts of a Word document from editing.
Protecting Specific Content in a Word Document
So you’re getting ready to send out your Word doc, but you want to make sure that certain parts of the document remain untouched. Instead of leaving this up to trust, you can take advantage of a feature that allows making specific parts of your content read-only, rendering them un-editable.
First, go ahead and open the Word document to be protected and head over to the “Review” tab.
Next, click the “Restrict Editing” button.
The “Restrict Editing” pane will appear on the right side of Word. Here, tick the “Allow only this type of editing in the document” checkbox.
Once ticked, you’ll notice the drop-down menu underneath becomes selectable. Make sure “No changes (Read only)” is selected from the menu. You’ll also notice a new “Exceptions” option, but we’ll come back to that later.
Now, you’ll need to select the parts of the document for which you do want editing allowed. Whatever parts you don’t select will end up as read-only. Go ahead and select the text by clicking and dragging your mouse across the text. If you have specific content in two separate sections that you’d like to keep open for editing, hold the Ctrl key while you click and drag to add them to your selection.
Once the text is selected, head back over to the “Restrict Editing” pane and tick the “Everyone” checkbox under the “Exceptions” section. This allows everyone that receives the document to edit the content you selected. If you’re on a company network and would like only to allow specific people to be able to edit the content, select “More users” and enter the users’ names (note that this requires access to a central, network user directory).
Finally, under the “Start enforcement” section, click “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.”
The “Start Enforcing Protection” window will appear, warning you that the document isn’t encrypted and therefore susceptible to malicious users. You’ll be prompted to enter a password. Go ahead and do so, then select “OK.” If you selected specific people for whom to allow editing, you’d select the “User authentication” option instead.
Word now highlights, as well as brackets, the selected text. This is an identifier for users that those are the editable sections.
In the right-hand pane, you’ll also notice a new option that lets you hop from editable section to editable section. All you need to do is click “Find Next Region I Can Edit.”
The “Show All Regions I Can Edit” option points out the editable sections, as the name implies. If you’d like to remove the highlights from the text, uncheck the box next to “Highlight the regions I can edit.”
To remove the protection restrictions on the document, click “Stop Protection” at the bottom of the “Restrict Editing” pane.
Now you can safely send out the document for collaboration without the worry of having certain parts edited that should otherwise remain untouched.
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Want to lock a document so that it cannot be edited without the password? There are a few options to protect a Word document to help prevent it from being changed or edited. This tutorial shows how to apply editing restrictions to a Word document in Office 2016/2013/2010/2007/2003.
How to protect document with editing restrictions in Word 2016/2013/2010
Use these steps below you can lock down or restrict entire or a portion of the document from editing.
Step 1: Open a Word document, click File tab and choose Info.
Step 2: Click the Protect Document, and select Restrict Editing option to open Restrict Editing pane.
Tips: If you want to lock down specific parts of a document, you can open a document and navigate to the page or paragraph that you want to protect from editing. Click on Review, and select Restrict Editing option to open Restrict Editing pane on the right side of the document.
Step 3: On the Restrict Editing pane, select Allow only this type of editing in the document check box and select an option from the drop-down list. You can allow other reviewers to only track changes, enter comments, or fill in forms. You can even restrict the document such that other people can only read it and make no changes.
When done, click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button.
Step 4: In the Start Enforcing Protection dialog, enter and reenter password and click OK.
Tips: This does not fully protect the document ( the document is not encrypted ). It only helps to prevent people from turning off the editing restrictions. For better protection, encrypt a document.
Step 5: When closing the current Word document, click Save to save your change.
Step 6: The next time you open the document, it opens as read-only. To open the document normally again, select Edit Document from the View menu. The document is displayed normally again, but you cannot edit it until the protection is removed. See more ways on how to edit a locked word document.
To remove the restriction, click the Stop Protection, after entering correct password you can to unlock the current Word document for editing. See more ways to unprotect word document without password.
How to protect document with editing restrictions in Word 2007
Step 1: In Word 2007, click the Review tab, click Protect Document in the Protect group, click Restrict Formatting and Editing option to open Restrict Editing pane on the right-side of the document.
Step 2: In the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane, under Editing restrictions, select the Allow only this type of editing in the document check box. Then select one option from the drop-down menu. Under Start enforcement, click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button.
Which Editing Restrictions type should you apply?
Tracked changes: When this option selected, anyone can edit this Word document but the editing process will be tracked and the changed texts will display in red.
Comments: Selecting this option, the user only can enter comments in this current Word document.
Filling in forms: This option only allows users to edit the forms in the current document.
No changes(Read only): This option restricts anyone from making any editing on the Word document.
Step 3: In the Start Enforcing Protection dialog, enter and reenter your password and click OK.
When closing this document, save your change to make this protection for it to take effect.
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After creating a fillable form in Microsoft Word, you may want to lock it down to prevent users from accidentally editing content outside the fillable areas. Microsoft Word provides a function called Restrict Editing that lets you either lock down the form in its entirety or allow users to access only the fillable areas within the form.
Lock Down Form
Open the form that you need to lock down, and press “Ctrl-A” to select all content within the form. Click the “Developer” tab, and then click “Restrict Editing” on the Protect group; if you cannot see the “Developer” tab, click “File | Options | Customize Ribbon | Developer | OK.”
On the Restrict Editing pane that shows up, check 'Allow Only This Type of Editing,' then click the pull-down menu under Editing Restrictions. Select “Filling in Forms” to prevent users from editing the content outside the fillable areas, or select “No changes (Read Only)” to lock down the entire form, including the ability to fill in anything. Click “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection,” then enter a password into both the 'New Password' and 'Reenter Password' boxes. Click 'OK.'
Disclaimer
Information in this article applies to Microsoft Word 2013. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions.
References (1)
About the Author
As an ardent tech fan, Andrew Meer loves writing about the latest in computer hardware and software. Since 2006, he has worked as a level designer and programmer for various video game companies. Meer holds a Bachelor of Science in game and simulation programming from DeVry University, California.
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Meer, Andrew. 'How to Lock Fillable Forms in Microsoft Word.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/lock-fillable-forms-microsoft-word-79977.html. Accessed 02 July 2019.
Meer, Andrew. (n.d.). How to Lock Fillable Forms in Microsoft Word. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/lock-fillable-forms-microsoft-word-79977.html
Meer, Andrew. 'How to Lock Fillable Forms in Microsoft Word' accessed July 02, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/lock-fillable-forms-microsoft-word-79977.html
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How to lock parts of document in Word?
If you want to allow other users to change the certain parts of a document, you can lock parts of the Word document, and the unlocked parts of the document can be edited freely.
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Lock specified sections of document in Word
The first method will guide you to add section breaks in current document, and then lock specified sections easily. And you can do it as following:
Step 1: Put the cursor before the part of document you will protect, and then click the Breaks > Continuous on the Page Layout tab. Then add a continuous break at the end of the part of document with same way.
Step 2: Show the Restrict Editing pane with clicking the Restrict Editing button on the Review tab.
Note: In Word 2007, you need to click the Protect Document > Restrict Formatting and Editing on the Review tab.
Step 3: In the Restrict Editing pane, go to the Editing restrictions section, and:
(1) Check the option of Allow only this type of editing in the document;
(2) Click the following box, and then specify the Filling in forms from the drop down list;
(3) Click the text of Select Sections.
(4) In the popping up Section Protection dialog box, only check the sections you will protect, and then click the OK button.
Step 4: Go ahead to click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button in the Restrict Editing pane.
Step 5: In the throwing Start Enforcing Protection dialog box,
(1) Check the Password;
(2) Enter your password in the both Enter new password (optional) box and Reenter password to confirm box;
(3) Click the OK button.
Step 6: Save your Word document.
Up to now, the specified sections have been protected by your specified password already.
Lock part of documents in Word
This method will guide you to lock a specified part of a document with adding a content control in Microsoft Word easily.
Step 1: Select the part of document you will protect, and then click the Rich Text Content Control button on the Developer tab.
Note: Click to know how to add the Developer tab into the Ribbon: Show developer tab/ribbon in Word
Step 2: Go ahead to click the Properties button on the Developer tab.
Step 3: In the coming Content Control Properties dialog box,
![Word Word](https://cdn.e-iceblue.com/images/art_images/lock-the-header-from-editing-on-word-2.png)
(1) Enter a name for this content control in the Title box;
(2) Check the option of Content control cannot be deleted;
(3) Check the option of Contents cannot be edited;
(4) Click the OK button.
Step 4: Enable the Restrict Editing pane (or Restrict Formatting and Edit pane) with clicking the Restrict Editing button on the Developer tab.
Notes:
(1) In Word 2007, please click the Protect Document > Restrict Formatting and Editing on the Developer tab.
(2) You can also find out the Restrict Editing button (or Protect Document button) on the Review tab.
Step 5: Go to the Restrict Editing pane,
Lock Word Document For Editing Pdf
(1) Check the option of Limit formatting to a selection of styles;
(2) Uncheck the option of Allow only this type of editing in the document;
(3) Click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button.
Step 6: In the coming Start Enforcing Protection dialog box,
(1) Check the Password;
(2) Enter your password in the both Enter new password (optional) box and Reenter password to confirm box;
(3) Click the OK button.
Step 7: Save current document.
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- Hi. does this work within a table? it does not work for me. is there any solution? Also even when I put and ab Legacy, this does not seem to work as it expands the table. How can I make the table not expanding? thanks
- To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.In the second example 'Lock part of documents in Word' the third step appears to be weak. Anyone with access to the Developer tab (that is, everyone) can simply open Content Control Properties dialog box and uncheck the 'Content control cannot be deleted' and 'Contents cannot be edited' options, even when the document has been restricted. The would defeat any attempt to protect parts of the document.
- Did you find a workaround to this problem?
- You can put a password protection on this after locking the sections you want to disable editing. Click on Restrict editing in the Developer tab, click option 2 Editing restrictions and select Filling in forms in the drop down box. Then click on 'Yes, Start Enforcing Protection'. From there you should have an option to put in a password.
To be able to unlock and edit the person would need to go back into the Restrict Editing tab, click on Stop Protection at the bottom right corner and provide the password.
Hope this helps :)
- To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.What do I do if properties doesn't get highlighted? I can't click it.
- To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I haven't spent the last hour trying to figure out if this was possible and I finally found the instructions on your website!!
- To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.Hi How do I lock my pages, so they don't run on to the next page? I have created a form with sections to be completed but want to ensure the content I have stays on one page within relevant sections.
Thanks