Q&A for How to Password Protect a Microsoft Word Document

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How do I password protect a Word 2016 document?

Community Answer

Open the Word document, click on File then Info then Protect Document then Encrypt with Password, and then you enter the password to the text box to set a password on it.

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Question

Instead of a password, could I set up a security question for a Word document?

Community Answer

No. Microsoft Office has no functionality like this.

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Question

How does the recipient get the password to read an encrypted document?

Community Answer

You can send the password to the recipient directly via email, text, etc.

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Question

Can I password-protect a single document in Word (for Mac) so that it can't be opened/viewed? Or if not a document, then a folder?

Community Answer

Refer to the "How to lock a folder with batch file" section. With that you can lock any folder or file and unlock them anytime.

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How do I unlock my protected document if I forgot the password?

Community Answer

You need to use special password recovery software or use online password recovery services. Online services are preferred, because the latest versions of MS Word have a strong encryption. The password search speed just a few hundred passwords per second. Online services have a powerful GPU farm and can search password at 100x - 1000x faster than a user's notebook, and the success rate is about 60-70%.

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Question

Can a third party open the document if they are given the password?

Christopher

Top Answerer

Anyone with the password can open the document. If they can't, there may be a bug or glitch.

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Question

Why would I want to password protect a document in Word?

Christopher

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People often password protect a document to keep private or confidential information from being accessed by others.

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Question

What happens to other people's documents if I change the password later?

Christopher

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When you change the password, people who have the document open will see it close to editing, and their pages or tabs may close until you provide them with the new password.

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