

While we are talking specifically about Mac, the process will be similar for encrypting Word on a PC. The focus here is how to encrypt Word documents on Mac. We’ll take a deeper dive into how to encrypt as we go through this post, but in simple terms, think of it as coding a document in such a way that only someone (or a machine) with the code can translate it.Įncryption is used to protect documents from prying eyes or prevent people from accessing whatever the encryptor wants to protect. Encryption is basically encoding a message or information so only authorized people can access it.Įncryption doesn’t necessarily stop interference but it does prevent retrieval of the content in such a way that the person accessing it cannot use it.

Password to Open means that nobody can so much as open a document unless they enter a password.What does encryption Word documents mean? Why would you want to encrypt a document?Įncryption as it implies to a document is basically the same thing when applied to a device or anything else. If that's what you want to do, you'll need to enter a password (up to 15 characters) twice. Make sure to store it in a safe space, such as a password manager.Ĥ. Password to Modify allows you to set a password to modify a document-so people can open and view it in read-only mode, but can't make any edits or changes unless they enter the password. Again, you'll want to keep your password in a safe place. The file will even be saved on your desktop with a lock on it, so you can easily tell that it is password protected. If you select both "password to open" and "password to modify"-with different passwords, of course-you can always share the password with someone you want to read your document. They will be forced to open it as read only unless they also have the password to modify the document. Step 1: Open Microsoft Word on your Mac and open a document. Step 2: From the ribbon on the top, click on 'Review', then, click on 'Protect' and on 'Protect Document'.Īlthough they will be able to make modifications and save the file under a new name, it will not affect your original.
