Protecting Templates

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Protecting your templates can ensure that templates remain intact, without unintentional alterations. Protecting your templates can be especially important if you're sharing them with other people on a network or online. You can protect templates the same way you protect standard Word 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.

• 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.

•  New Feature   Protect formatting and editing changes Choose Tools, Protect Document. The Protect Document task pane appears, which enables you to apply detailed formatting and editing restrictions.

•  New Feature   Prevent the template from being forwarded, edited, or copied by unauthorized people Apply Information Rights Management (IRM) by clicking Permission on the Standard toolbar.

  Cross-Reference 

  For more information about tracking changes and adding comments, see Chapter 27, "Revising Documents Using Markup Tools," and for more information about creating and protecting forms, see Chapter 31, "Working with Field Codes and Custom Forms." For more information about IRM and security in Word, see Chapter 28, "Addressing Document Protection and Security Issues."

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