Passwords are case-sensitive and can be a maximum of 15 characters long.
If you lose or forget your password, Word won't be able to recover it for you. Be sure to keep the a copy of the password in a safe place or create a strong password that you’ll remember.
-
Go to File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.
-
Type a password, then type it again to confirm it.
-
Save the file to make sure the password takes effect.
-
Go to Review > Protect Document.
-
Under Security, you can select whether to enter a password to open the document, modify the document, or both. Enter each password again to confirm.
-
Click OK.
Important:
Office for Mac 2011 is no longer supported. Upgrade to Microsoft 365 to work anywhere from any device and continue to receive support.
Upgrade now
-
On the Word menu, click Preferences.
-
Under Personal Settings, click Security
. -
In the Password to open box, type a password, and then click OK.
-
In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again, and then click OK.
-
Click Save
.
Word Online can’t encrypt a document with a password, and it can’t edit documents encrypted with a password. If you want to protect the file with a password, click or tap Open in Word to open your document in the desktop version of Word. After you've added password protection, you’ll need to use the Word desktop program to open the document.
Password reset for IT admins
If you're concerned about end-users in your organization losing access to password protected Office files, the DocRecrypt tool might be for you. Note that you have to deploy the DocRecrypt tool BEFORE the file in question is password protected. DocRecrypt can't retroactively recover files that were password protected before you deployed DocRecrypt. For more information see: Remove or reset file passwords using DocRecrypt.
