Protecting Parts of a Document in Microsoft Word

You can protect just parts of a document so that they cannot be changed. This is done by implementing Word's forms feature. With forms, you can choose the information to be entered in a specific area of the document, using special fields, and then protect the form to enforce the ability to only enter in those specific areas, while all other information is protected from being changed.

Well, many people want only a portion of their form to be protected, while allowing free typing in the rest of it. For instance, a Fax form may have areas at the top that should be filled in, but the bottom message area doesn't need to be protected. How do you do it?

First, you must decide which area of the document will not be protected. If the area is in the middle of the document only, then you'll need to insert a continuous section break both above and below the area. (Use caution if you already have other section breaks in your document...be sure to note which sections you need to keep from protecting.) If you are protecting the bottom half of your document, you don't need to insert a section break at the end.

Hit Tools Protect Document. Word displays the Protect Document task pane. Choose Filling in forms.

Then choose the Select Sections link that is provided after choosing Filling in forms.

In our example below, we're allowing the user to change information in the middle of our form, but not the top and bottom areas.