THERE are good reasons today to take file security seriously. Whether you work alone in a home office or trade files and collaborate with colleagues all over the globe, chances are that your documents bump up against security risks all the time. In addition to the anti-virus program running on your computer, Word offers a number of features that help you keep your information private, secure, and safeguarded.
In today’s world of always-on, connect-everywhere technology, it’s not unusual to be working with teammates across the country while you’re sitting at a coffee shop, riding the train, or checking e-mail on your phone. We trade so many files back and forth and we think they go directly to the recipient and back again. But what if a file falls into the wrong hands? Or what if someone hijacks your e-mail account? Microsoft Word 2010 can help you to ensure that only the information you want to share is included in your document. It also makes it easy for you to tailor permissions so you give only those people you want to have access to your document the necessary permissions to work with your content. And the new Protected View feature runs a series of background checks—invisible to you—on a document before you even open it, helping you ensure that you aren’t putting your data and your computer in harm’s way.
This chapter is all about the features with which Word 2010 can help you secure your files. Most people know the importance of using security measures at the network level or being careful to safeguard files they send as e-mail attachments or post to an online site, but Word provides you with a number of tools you can use to protect your content at the document level as well. For example, you might want to protect your document in the following ways:
Control who can open, modify, distribute, and print your documents
Specify the types of changes others can make to your documents
Remove personal and hidden information
Save the document in a non-modifiable, fixed format so others can view and print the file but not change it
Identify yourself as the author of a document (by using digital signatures)
Protect yourself and others from macro viruses
It’s likely that you’ll use a number of these features together to provide the best measure of protection for your Word documents. The next section gives you a quick overview of the security features in Word 2010.
Word is designed to meet the reality that our workplace has changed—the global, mobile, and wireless workforce now has security concerns that standalone, desktop PC users did not have in the past. Many of today’s users need to be able to access documents in a variety of versions and share them with people all over the world, at a moment’s notice. Securing sensitive documents has become more important than ever.
The big change in security in Word 2010—in fact, in all Office 2010 programs—is the addition of Protected View, a new security measure that puts each file you open in a kind of protected “sandbox” until the file is deemed to be a safe for you to use. Developers noticed that there was vulnerability in Word files as they were going through the file open procedure, so they created a way to validate them while they were being opened to lessen the risk that the file would be bringing a virus with it.
When you click Protect Document on the Info tab (click the File tab to display Backstage view), you’ll find the following features that are designed to safeguard your documents:.
Mark As Final. Mark As Final saves the document in its final form, as read-only, so others receiving the file will only be able to view and print the file.
Encrypt With Password. With this feature, you can set a password and encrypt your document before sending it to others.
Restrict Editing. This displays the Restrict Formatting And Editing task pane so that you can specify the types of changes you will allow—and by whom.
Restrict Permission By People. Displays a list from which you can choose one of three permission settings: Unrestricted Access, Restricted Access, or Manage Credentials.
Add A Digital Signature. Here, you can authenticate your document for others by adding a digital signature directly in the document file.
Additionally with Word 2010, you can perform a series of checks in the document to confirm that you are prepared to share it with others. Here are the tools you’ll find in the Check For Issues list in the Prepare For Sharing area on the Info tab in Backstage view:
Inspect Document. Launches the Document Inspector, in which you can have Word review your document and point out any sensitive or personal information you might not want to share.
Check Accessibility. Runs a check to ensure that people who are differently abled will be able to read or otherwise use the content in your document.
Check Compatibility. Checks for features that are not supported in an earlier version of Word. This helps you know that all the content you created will be able to be viewed by others who might not yet have Word 2010.
In addition to the features in the Protect Document list and the evaluation tools you can use before you share the file, Word offers these security features:
The Word 2010 Trust Center. You’ll find the Word 2010 Trust Center on the File tab by choosing Options and clicking Trust Center. The Trust Center is where you can disable macros in your Word documents, choose whether Microsoft ActiveX controls are enabled in documents you receive, and create a list of Trusted Publishers, among other tasks.
PDF and XPS formats. Support for saving your documents in PDF and XPS is built right into Word 2010. You can use the Save As command to save the file in PDF or XPS format, or you can choose Create PDF/XPS Document in the Save & Send tab. PDF and XPS formats give you the means to save your Word documents in a platform-independent format that others can view but not change.
The developers of Office 2010 found that one area vulnerable to attack was the process of opening a file from a previous version of Office. For this reason, they developed a new security approach that operates behind the scenes when you open a new document. The file must pass a series of checks—called a file validation process—before it is considered a safe and allowed to open normally. If the software finds anything suspicious, the document is displayed in Protected View (see Figure 20-1).
Word 2010 lets you know that a file is in Protected View by displaying a message bar across the top of the work area. If you know the sender of the file or are certain the file is safe, you can click Enable Editing to remove the protection and edit the file normally. You can change which files Word 2010 flags for protection by changing the settings in the Trust Center.
The Protected View message bar appears whenever you try to open a file that has either been blocked or has been determined to be in a file format flagged for blocking. If you want to see the contents of the file or know the person or company who sent it, you can open the file in Protected View. Protected View is a safe mode in which you can view the file without it potentially impacting your other files. When you know the file is okay, you can click the Enable Editing button to open the file normally.
With Word 2010, you can choose when Protected View is used for your files. By default, all the settings are selected for Protected View, which means that Word displays the Protected View message bar whenever a file fails validation, when it comes from the Internet, when you’re downloading it from a potentially unsafe location, or when you’re opening an Outlook e-mail attachment. Also by default, Word turns on Data Execution Prevention mode, which ensures that any process that tries to execute when you open the document will be blocked.
You can change these settings on the Protected View tab in the Trust Center. Here are the steps:
Click the File tab to display Backstage view then click Options.
Click Trust Center, and then click Trust Center Settings.
Select Protected View.
Clear the check mark of any setting you do not want to keep (see Figure 20-2), then click OK twice to return to the document.
Because the internal checks Word performs when determining whether your file is safe have to do with the file format, you can tell Word 2010 which file types you want to validate before opening them. This controls the types of files that trigger validation when Protected View is used to safeguard files that you are opening. You can choose that files be checked when you open a file or save a file, or both. Here’s how to review and change the file types Word flags as potential problems:
Click the File tab to display Backstage view then click Options.
Click Trust Center, and then click the Trust Center Settings button.
Click the File Block Settings category (see Table 20-1 for descriptions).
Clear the check mark in any file type you don’t want to validate.
Select those file types that you do want to check in the Open And Save columns (see Figure 20-3).
Table 20-1. File Block Behaviors
Description
Do Not Open Selected File Types
The selected files are blocked and will not be opened
Open Selected File Types In Protected View
Opens the selected file in a safe mode that is protected from other files and processes
Open Selected File Types In Protected View And Allow Editing
Opens the selected file type in safe mode but allows the user to edit as normal
Have you ever finished a document and then sent it out to team members or managers, only to receive back a marked up copy with someone’s last-minute changes? To avoid this, Word includes the Mark As Final feature with which you can mark a file as final.
When you are finished with a document, double-check it to be sure it’s what you want. Then on the File tab, select the Info tab, click Protect Document, and then click Mark As Final. A message box informs you that the document will be marked as final and then saved. Click OK to continue.
After the file is saved, many of the commands on the Ribbon are not available because you can no longer modify the file in any way. A prompt in the message bar lets users know that the file has been marked as final but gives them the option to edit anyway. In addition, a Marked As Final symbol appears in the document’s status bar to let you know that the document has been finalized, as shown in Figure 20-4.
Figure 20-4. The message bar and the indicator in the status bar show the document has been marked as final.
Note
When you use Mark As Final without additional security functionality, such as a digital signature, users can disable the Mark As Final command, edit the document, and turn on Mark As Final again. The only indication that changes have been made is the Save Date. To ensure that the document is secure, be sure to use an additional protection feature such digital signatures.
Another way to restrict which users can open or modify a document is to encrypt the document and use password protection. Encrypting a document encodes it so that it will be unreadable to those who don’t have the password. When you encrypt the file, users must enter a password before they can open or change the document. Standard passwords in Word are case-sensitive. They can be up to 15 characters long, and they can contain any combination of letters, numerals, spaces, and symbols. Here’s how to encrypt your document:
Open the document you want to protect.
On the File tab, click Protect Document.
The Protect Document list appears, as shown in Figure 20-5.
Click Encrypt With Password.
The Encrypt Document dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 20-6.
Type the password for your document.
After you click OK, Word will prompt you to reenter the password to verify it. After you click OK the second time, password protection and encryption features will be in effect.
Caution
It’s important that you keep track of the password you assign to your encrypted document because Word has no way to recover it if it is misplaced or forgotten. You might want to keep a backup copy of the document somewhere that is available only to you—just in case.
After you assign a password to open a document, the Password dialog box will appear whenever a user attempts to open the document, as shown in Figure 20-7. To open the document, the user must enter the correct password and click OK. If a user doesn’t know the password, she can click Cancel to abort the process.
You might decide somewhere along the line that you don’t need the level of protection you’ve added to your document after all. If you want to remove permissions or cancel password protection, you can do it easily by performing the following:
To remove permissions, click Change Permissions in the message bar (below the Ribbon). The Permission dialog box appears. Clear the Restrict Permission To This Document check box then click OK to save your changes. Permissions will no longer be in effect for the current document.
To cancel password protection, you must first open the document by using the password. On the File tab, display the Info tab in Backstage view, click Protect Document, and then click Encrypt With Password. In the Encrypt Document dialog box, delete the password. Click OK to save the setting, and the password will no longer be used for the document.
Note
In most cases, you’ll lose your password protection if you save your document in a format other than Word’s native document format. For example, if you save a Word document as a Web page or a PDF file, Word will let you know that password protection will be lost if you continue with the save operation.
You can restrict the available editing and formatting capabilities in a Word document. When you restrict editing, users are able to open the document, but they can’t change text beyond how you specify. You can choose to limit formatting changes or editing changes or both. Most of the character formatting tools on the Ribbon, along with other text formatting tools (such as formatting keyboard commands), are inaccessible when a document has formatting restrictions applied. You can control the styles that appear in the Styles gallery and block users’ ability to choose different Quick Style sets in the document.
Note
Be aware that even if the document is protected with a password, the Protect Document functionality is intended to be used in a collaborative environment and offers only a limited means of security. For a higher level of security, use encryption, or save the document as a PDF or XPS file.
To restrict formatting and editing, on the File tab, select the Info tab then click Protect Document. Click Restrict Editing. The Restrict Formatting And Editing pane, shown in Figure 20-8, appears along the right side of the Word window.
Figure 20-8. You can enable editing restrictions to stop users from making formatting and editing changes in your document.
To set up editing restrictions in the Restrict Formatting And Editing pane, follow these steps:
Select the Limit Formatting To A Selection Of Styles check box and then click Settings.
The Formatting Restrictions dialog box appears.
The Limit Formatting To A Selection Of Styles check box is already selected. Click Settings to go through the list; clear any of the items you want to restrict users from changing in the document.
You can take the following actions.
Manually select and clear style check boxes to specify a group of styles that you want to allow users to access.
Select All if you want all styles to be allowed.
Select Recommended Minimum to limit styles to a recommended group of styles.
Select None if you don’t want users to have access to any styles.
In the Formatting area of the Formatting Restrictions dialog box, choose whether you want to allow AutoFormatting to be applied in spite of formatting restrictions.
You can also elect to make it impossible for users to change the theme or color scheme, or choose a different Quick Style set. Select the check box of any item you want to apply then click OK.
If the document contains styles that you didn’t select in Step 3, a message box appears, stating that the document contains formatting or styles that aren’t allowed and asking whether you would like to remove them.
Click No to apply the formatting settings without changing the document’s current formatting, or click Yes to remove the styles from the document. Keep in mind that if you click None in Step 3 and then click Yes in the message box in this step, your document will be formatted in Normal style throughout. In most cases, you’ll probably want to retain the current formatting in the document, so you should click No in the message box.
In the Restrict Formatting And Editing pane, select the Allow Only This Type Of Editing In The Document check box, and choose one of the following from the list:
No Changes (Read only). Limits all editing changes in the document
Tracked Changes. Users can make changes but turns on revision marks
Comments. Limits users to adding comments in the text
Filling In Forms. Allows users to only add form information
In the Exceptions area, you can indicate who (if anyone) you want to be able to be exceptions to the rules you have just added.
The list of names is extracted from your contacts list. Click More Users to add users to the list. You can click the arrow at the end of the Everyone selection to specify regions of the document where the exceptions will be in effect.
Click Yes then click Start Enforcing Protection. The Start Enforcing Protection dialog box opens.
In the Start Enforcing Protection dialog box, enter a password in the Enter New Password (Optional) box and then re-enter the password in the Re-enter Password To Confirm box.
If you don’t want to use password protection, leave the password boxes empty. Click OK to complete the procedure.
After formatting restrictions are enforced, users won’t be able to apply character formats or use styles that aren’t included on the approved list of styles.
To turn off formatting restrictions, click Protect Document again, click Stop Protection at the bottom of the Restrict Formatting And Editing pane, enter a password if required, and then click OK.
Removing Personal Information and Hidden Data
One easy security measure you can take when sharing documents with others is to remove information you don’t intend for others to see. For example, you can remove personal information so that people who view your document won’t be able to see the names of reviewers, the author of the document, and so forth. If your document contains other hidden information, you’ll want to eliminate that as well. If you don’t delete hidden information, other people who view your document might see data you’d rather they didn’t, especially if they save your Word document in another file format (information hidden in a Word document doesn’t remain hidden when a Word document is saved in another format and viewed in another application). This section shows you how to remove personal information from documents before you share the documents with others.
Note
In addition to removing personal information, be sure to remove hidden text and accept or reject any tracked changes before you pass your document to others. For more information about accepting and rejecting tracked changes, see Chapter 22.
In Word, you can easily remove the following types of personal information:
File properties, such as author name, manager name, company name, and last saved by information
Names associated with comments and revisions (Word will change reviewers’ names to Author automatically)
Routing slips
E-mail message headers generated when you click the E-Mail button
To remove these informational tidbits, run the Document Inspector, which is available in the Check For Issues list on the Info tab in Backstage view. Here are the steps:
With your file open, on the File tab, click Check For Issues on the Info tab.
Click Inspect Document.
The Document Inspector dialog box appears, as you see in Figure 20-9. All items are selected. This means that all the listed checks will be performed automatically. If you want to skip any of the items in the list, clear the item’s check box.
Click Inspect to evaluate the document. The results show you what the Document Inspector found. If hidden items were discovered, the Inspector alerts you and provides a Remove All button for each inspection type so that you can delete the unwanted information.
Click Remove All to clear the unwanted items.
Click Reinspect to run the Document Inspector again.
When the inspection reveals no more hidden information, click the Close button to complete the process and return to your document.
For years, Word users have been asking for PDF support for their Word documents. Now at last in Word 2010, the feature is built into the functioning of the program. You can use two different methods to save your file as a PDF or XPS file: use the Save & Send tab in Backstage view, or use the Save As dialog box.
PDF (Portable Document Format) files are saved in a fixed layout, meaning that although readers can view, print, and share files, they cannot modify the format or content. Users must have a special PDF reader to read PDF files. The most popular PDF reader is Acrobat Reader, a free downloadable utility from Adobe Systems (www.adobe.com). Because PDF preserves the format of the final document, this format is often used for submitting final files to commercial printers, to post documents online, and to save and share work that includes highly detailed and colorful graphics.
XPS is a fixed-layout format that has been developed by Microsoft. The format is actually a page-definition format that creates the page electronically in a way that can be read by people, programs, and PCs. Similar to PDF, XPS file format allows users to view, print, and share files but limits others from making changes in the file itself.
Note
To learn more about the XPS format, visit the XPS Web site at www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/.
The actual process for saving your file in PDF or XPS format is super simple. Just open the document you want to use and click File to display Backstage view. Click the Save & Send tab and then click Create PDF/XPS Document. Click Create a PDF/XPS.
The Publish As PDF or XPS dialog box appears, in which you can navigate to the folder where you want to store the file. Click in the File Name box and type a name for the file, then click Save As Type to choose either PDF or XPS Document.
If you want to view the file after saving it, select the Open File After Publishing check box. In the Optimize For area, choose whether you want to save the file in Standard or Minimum size. Click the Options button to display choices about the page ranges included in the file and the type of information saved with the file (see Figure 20-10).
After you click OK, the file is saved in the format you specified. If you selected the Open After Publishing check box and you have a PDF or XPS reader installed on your computer, the file will open automatically so that you can see your file the way others will view it.
Word lets you digitally sign your documents so that others know the file is authentic—and you can add stamp signature lines as well. Word supports digital certificates that are provided by third-party vendors (the program has a built-in link to Office Marketplace where you can evaluate different services easily) as well as digital certificates that you create yourself. There are a couple of items to bear in mind when deciding on what type of signature you want to use:
When a document is prepared using a third-party digital signature service, the document is authenticated and people who receive your files can be certain they have been authenticated.
When you create a digital certificate yourself, the item is not authenticated, but it does provide a useful service. A document you digitally sign indicates to the user that they are receiving a document that has not been modified since you created it. (A digital signature becomes invalid if the document is revised after it is signed.)
To get your own digital ID, on the File tab, click Protect Document and then click Add A Digital Signature. If you don’t have a signature of your own, a message box appears explaining the limits and availability of digital signatures. The message box also provides a button you can click to see the signature services that are available from third-party sources on Office Marketplace (see Figure 20-11).
When you see the Get A Digital ID dialog box, click Create Your Own Digital ID then click OK; the Create A Digital ID dialog box appears, in which you can fill in your information and click Create to create your own digital certificate. Remember, however, that this type of certification is unauthenticated, so it doesn’t provide much security assurance to others outside your local area network. However, it can assure those receiving your files that they have the most recent version of your original work.
When you click OK, the Sign dialog box appears, providing an area for you to enter the reason you are signing the document (see Figure 20-12). Additionally, you can verify that you are the person shown to be signing the document (if others use your computer, be sure to verify that the correct digital ID appears in the Signing As: line). Click the Sign button to add your digital signature to the document.
The Signature Confirmation dialog box lets you know that your signature has been saved with the document. If the document is changed after this point, the signature will no longer be valid and you will need to re-sign the document.
At this point, you’ve successfully created an unauthenticated digital certificate that you can use to sign your documents.
After you create or obtain a digital certificate, you can authenticate your files by digitally signing them. Basically, digitally signing a file means that you’ve attached your digital certificate to the document. In the last section, you saw how Word 2010 automatically applies the newly created digital ID to the currently open document. If you want to attach your digital signature to another file, follow these steps:
Open the document you want to digitally sign.
On the File tab, click Protect Document on the Info tab and click Add A Digital Signature. Click OK in the message box that appears.
The Sign dialog box is displayed. Type the purpose for signing the document and verify that the Signing As value is correct.
Click the Sign button to attach your signature to the document.
The stamp signature feature in Word 2010 enables you to use an image, or if you have an inking feature, such as on a Tablet PC—a hand-written signature, as a stamp on your Word documents. (Note that this feature is also available for Excel workbooks.)
You will need a digital ID to add a stamp signature to your documents. The process involves two parts: first you create the stamp signature line in the document, and then you add the image you want to use for the stamp and digitally sign it. (Note that depending on how you will be using the document, you might be creating it and sending it to another person, who then signs the signature line and returns it to you.)
To add the stamp signature line to the document, on the Insert tab, click the Signature Line arrow in the Text group. Select Stamp Signature Line. The Signature Setup dialog box appears, in which you can enter the signer’s information and add any instructions you want the signer to see before signing. Click OK to save your changes.
To sign the stamp signature line, double-click it. The Sign dialog box appears. Click Select Image to display a dialog box, in which you can select the image you want to use as your digital signature. Navigate to the file and click Select, then simply click Sign and the stamp signature is added to the document.
When a document has been digitally signed, the View Signatures option automatically displays when you open the document. When you click View Signatures in the message bar at the top of the Word window, the Signatures pane appears along the right side of the signed document by default. A small certificate indicator in the status bar also shows you that the document has signatures, as shown in the following illustration:
Click the File tab to display Backstage view to find out more about the signatures in your document (see Figure 20-13). Click View Signatures to display the signature in the Signatures task pane, along the right side of your document. You can display more information about the signature by clicking the arrow and clicking your choice in the list that appears. After you add the signature to the file, the Info tab lets you know you are working with a signed document and gives you the option of viewing the signatures (see Figure 20-14).
After you add a certificate to a document, you can remove it at any time. To do so, click the File tab to display Backstage view, then display the Signatures list by clicking View Signatures on the Info tab. Click the arrow of the signature you want to remove and select Remove Signature. The Remove Signature dialog box appears, asking you to confirm that you want to complete the operation. Click Yes to delete the signature. Note, however, that this action simply removes the signature from the current document—it doesn’t delete the certificate.
Each of the Microsoft Office 2010 programs includes the Trust Center, a special area within the program options where you control settings related to security and privacy. Some Trust Center settings you enter in one application flow through to other applications as well.
To display the Word Trust Center, follow these steps.
On the File tab, click Options.
Click Trust Center, which is located in the navigation pane on the left side of the dialog box, then click the Trust Center Settings button.
The Trust Center opens, as you see in Figure 20-15.
The Trust Center includes 10 different categories, each tailored to a specific area of security or privacy. Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll find in the various groups.
Trusted Publishers. Displays a list of the digital certificates you’ve accepted from other individuals or companies. When you open a document that includes a macro, the Message Bar appears alerting you to that fact. If the document is from a trusted source, and if a digital signature has been added, you can choose to add that publisher to your Trusted Publishers list.
Trusted Locations. Shows the locations that you have accepted as safe sources for files you open. You can add new locations, change locations, or remove locations by working with the options on the Trusted Locations screen. Note that the Workgroup Templates folder (found in Word Options/Advanced and File Locations at the bottom) is also considered a trusted location and it does not automatically appear in this list.
Trusted Documents. Specifies documents or network folders that you trust so those files will not cause Protected View to display.
Add-ins. Determines whether you will require the authentication of add-ins (meaning they must be signed by someone in your Trusted Publisher’s list before you approve their installation) or whether you choose to disable all add-ins.
ActiveX Settings. Gives you the choice of what to do with ActiveX controls that do not come from a trusted source. Your options range from totally disallowing ActiveX controls to running them after being prompted to openly running all ActiveX controls (which is not recommended for security reasons).
Macro Settings. Offers selections for working with macros that are not authenticated or from a trusted location. You can disallow them, disable macros with notification, allow only macros with digital signatures, or enable all macros unconditionally (again, not recommended).
Protected View. Presents you with the option of changing the items that trigger Word to display Protected View.
Message Bar. Enables you to choose whether you want the message bar to display information when content has been blocked.
File Block Settings. Lets you choose which files are blocked or displayed in Protected View when you first open them.
Privacy Options. Includes several different groups of settings that help you control how much information is shared about your computer use and individual documents. Additionally, you can set your preferences for the Research and Translate tools in Word.
Simply choose the settings that best fit the way you want your version of Word to operate and then click OK to save your settings. The settings you select in the Trust Center are global settings, meaning they are in effect for the entire application. You can at any time return to the Trust Center to check or remove Trusted Publishers, change Trusted Locations, or modify any of the settings you’ve previously entered.
When you open a file that includes digitally signed macros (and the signer isn’t included on your Trusted Publishers list, as described in this section), you’ll be asked whether you want to trust all macros from the signer. If you click Yes, the signer will be added to your list of trusted publishers. Before you add a signer, you should carefully review the publisher’s certificate (watch for the red X). You should especially review the certificate’s Issued To, Issued By, and Valid From fields. After you add a signer to your Trusted Publishers list, in the future, Word will automatically enable macros signed by the publisher. As you add new trusted sources, they’ll be added to the Trusted Publishers list.
If you later decide that you’d like to remove a signer from your Trusted Publishers list, you can do so at any time, as follows:
On the File tab, click Options, then click Trust Center and choose Trust Center Settings.
Click Trusted Publishers in the navigation bar in the Trust Center window.
Select the publisher you want to remove. Click Remove, and then click OK.
Microsoft digitally signs all add-ins and templates (if they contain macros) that you download from Office Online. After you add Microsoft to your list of trusted publishers for one of these installed files, all subsequent interactions with these files will not generate messages.
Depending on the suite of Office 2010 you are using, you might also be able to control a variety of permission levels so that those viewing and working with your document are granted only the access that you specify. This feature is known as Information Rights Management (IRM) functionality; it is how you customize the permissions users are given so that they can access and modify your file.
With IRM functionality, you can restrict permission to Word documents and document content so that only those who you want to have access to your files can open them; you can also control whether documents can be forwarded, printed, or accessed after a specified number of days; and, you can specify the following three access levels for Word documents:
Read. Allows specified users to read a document but not edit, print, or copy the content.
Change. Allows specified users to read, edit, and save changes to a document but not print the document.
Full Control. Gives specified users full authoring permissions and the freedom to do anything with a document. (Document authors always have full control.)
To set access levels for specified users, use the Permission dialog box, as shown in Figure 20-16. To open the Permission dialog box, on the File tab, point to Protect Document on the Info tab, point to Restrict Permission By People, and click Restricted Access. After the Permission dialog box appears, select the Restrict Permission To This Document check box to make the Read and Change boxes available.
Figure 20-16. You use the Permission dialog box to grant Read or Change access to users by entering their e-mail addresses in the Read or Change boxes.
Along with access levels, you can set additional permissions and settings using the Permission dialog box. To access the additional permissions and settings options, click the More Options button in the lower-left corner of the Permission dialog box. You can also change a user’s access level in the More Options dialog box by clicking the Access Level setting next to the user’s e-mail address and selecting a new access level. Additional permissions and settings that you can set for each user include the following:
This Document Expires On. Sets an expiration date for the document, after which the document will be unavailable to selected users.
Print Content. Grants printing capabilities to users with Read or Change access levels.
Allow Users With Read Access To Copy Content. Enables users with Read access to copy the entire or partial document.
Access Content Programmatically. Enables users to use certain Word program features in the document, such as Smart Tags.
Users Can Request Additional Permissions From. Specifies an address that users can send requests to change their permission status.
Require A Connection To Verify A User’s Permission. Requires that users connect to the Internet to verify their credentials each time they access the document.
Set Defaults. Sets the current settings as the default for documents with restricted permissions.
To apply permissions to a document, follow these steps.
Open the document you want to protect.
On the File tab, click Protect Document on the Info tab.
Click Restrict Permission By People then click Restricted Access.
In the Permission dialog box, select the Restrict Permission To This Document check box.
Click the Change or Read label (hovering the mouse pointer over the label will change the label to a button) to access your address book or enter e-mail addresses in the Read or Change boxes of the users who can access the document.
If you’re entering more than one e-mail address, separate the addresses with a semicolon. If desired, click More Options to further configure user permissions.
Click OK to save your settings.
When you open the document in the future, the message bar shows that the document now has restricted access (see Figure 20-17). If you want to change the settings currently in effect for the document, you can click Change Permission to display the Permissions dialog box.
Another important check for documents that you create to share with others—or post in a public folder or shared drive—concerns the issue of accessibility. More than ever before, all kinds of users are working with Microsoft Office files, no matter what their skills and limitations might be. In order to ensure that differently-abled workers can access the content in your Word file, you can use the Accessibility Checker.
On the File tab, point to Check For Issues on the Info tab. Click Check Accessibility. The Accessibility Checker task pane appears along the right side of your Word window, showing the results of the test (see Figure 20-18). In the top half of the pane, you can view the Inspection Results, which lists all the issues Word found in your document. In the lower portion of the pane, you see Additional Information, which tells you why it is important to fix the selected issue and provides suggestions for the ways in which you can do so.
Work one by one through the various items and when you’ve completed the changes, save the document and run the Accessibility Checker once more to ensure that your file is ready to share.
When your work requires that you share your Word 2010 document with others who are using previous versions of Word, you might not think anything about the different file formats until one of your peers lets you know that your Word 2010 document can’t be opened in Word 2003.
There are two workarounds for this. First, your peer can download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/downloads and run the utility so that she can open Word 2010 files. Second, you can run the Compatibility Checker to see which features, if any, might be unavailable if you save your file in an earlier version of Word.
To run the Compatibility Checker, on the File tab, click Check For Issues on the Info tab. Click Check Compatibility. The Microsoft Word Compatibility Checker dialog box appears, listing any features that might be unavailable and giving you a description of what the difference means (see Figure 20-19). You can click the arrow to choose the versions of Word you want to check against. Click OK when you’re done.
This chapter has introduced you to the far-reaching security and privacy features in Word 2010. Now that you know how to manage the access to your files, you can prepare to share, edit, review, and compare collaborative documents, which just happens to be what the next chapter is all about.