Protecting Templates

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Protecting your templates can help ensure that templates remain intact, without unintentional alterations. You can protect templates in the same manner you protect documents. In particular, you can protect your templates in the following ways:

• Suggest that they be opened as read-only. Choose Tools, Options, click the Security tab, select the Read-Only Recommended check box, and then click OK.
• Protect tracked changes, comments, or forms. Choose Tools, Protect Document, enter a password, click OK, re-enter your password, and then click OK again.

  For more information about tracking changes and adding comments see Chapter 33, "Revising Documents Using Markup Tools," and for more information about creating and protecting forms, see Chapter 36, "Working with Field Codes and Custom Forms."

• Encrypt the template. Choose Tools, Options, click the Security tab, enter a password in the Password To Open box, click OK, re-enter your password, and then click OK again.
• Create a file sharing password. Choose Tools, Options, click the Security tab, enter a password in the Password To Modify box, click OK, re-enter your password, and then click OK again.

Protecting your templates can be especially important if you're sharing them with other people.

For more information about security in Word, see Chapter 34, "Addressing Security Issues."