How to Lock or Protect a Microsoft Word 2010 Document with a Password

Illustration of locked document

There are several ways to protect word documents or other types of documents that are confidential.

One way that is often recommended is to use third-party applications.
Not wrong, but Microsoft has provided a tool to protect important documents, so you don't need to install let alone buy additional applications.

The method is quite easy, here are the steps.

• Not documents that must be protected by a password, then click the File - Info.
• Click the small needle mark on the Protect Document menu and a dropdown menu will appear, click the Encrypt with Password.

• Next, please create the password you want, this process is repeated twice, then click OK to save changes.

• After the steps above are finished, your document is protected by a password. Now please close the document and try opening it again. The computer will ask you to enter your password before you can open or edit it. This way, only you as the document owner can access it.

You can also use the same method in other Office documents, including Excel, Powerpoint, Access and OneNote documents.