To password protect an Office document, first open it in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access. Click the “File” menu at the top-left corner of the screen. How to Password Protect an Office Document doc–which are compatible with Office 2003 and earlier–Office will use the older, not-secure version of the encryption.īut, as long as you’re saving your files in modern Office formats and using the “Encrypt with Password” option instead of the “Restrict Editing” option, your documents should be secure. If you save to older document formats like. This type of password can be easily cracked and removed, allowing people to edit the file.Īlso, Office’s encryption only works well if you’re saving to modern document formats like. Office also allows you to set a password to “Restrict Editing” of a file–in theory, allowing people to view a file but not edit it without a password. First, only passwords that fully encrypt the document are secure. There are two big things you need to watch out for. RELATED: What is Encryption, and Why Are People Afraid of It? We tested the PDF encryption feature and found that it uses 128-bit AES encryption on Office 2016, too. This is widely considered secure, and means that Office now uses real, strong encryption to protect your documents when you set a password. Office 2007 switched to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key. With Office 2007, Microsoft got more serious about security. If you have a document password-protected with Office 2003 or an earlier version, the password can be easily and quickly bypassed with widely available password cracking software. From Office 95 to Office 2003, the encryption scheme was very weak. Microsoft Office’s password-protection features have gotten a bad rap in the past. How Secure Is Microsoft Office’s Password Protection?

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