Sometimes we do not want other people to view our confidential documents as they may contain sensitive information. Fortunately all Microsoft office applications, including Word, Access, Excel and Powerpoint have built-in password encryption feature that allows users to password protect their important files. Here’s how you can make use of this feature and password protect a Microsoft Word 2010 document:
1. Create the Word document as you usually would.
2. When you have finished, click the Save option in the upper-left corner of your screen (or File > Save As if you had already saved the document).
3. Click the Tools button in the lower-right section of the window and select General Options…
4. The General Options window will show up. Enter either the Password to open or Password to modify (or both) and click OK.
5. You will need to retype the password on the next window to confirm the password you entered in the previous step.
6. Click OK, followed by Save to ensure the password is saved and applied to the document.
Voila! Your Word 2010 document will be safely protected with a password. Anyone who wishes to open the document will have to enter the corresponding password for it, without which he cannot view the document.