Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Securing Your Documents in Office 2010

If you already have an Office 2010 download. Chances are that you are dealing with files that are very sensitive and require extra care and protection.  To do this, you need to go to the Backstage view and go to the Info option. It is located towards the left. This is where you will see the Protect Document button on the Permissions heading. This will give you access to different tools that you can use so that no one else can make changes to your document. And of course, this reassures other people that you have created the document yourself.

First is the Mark As Final. This is what lets the file remain in read-only. You cannot type anything in the document and neither can you edit it. With this setting, some of the Ribbon buttons are disabled as well. This provides protection from casual changes but this isn’t quite the setting to intercept deliberate tampering. You can still click mark as Final again or go to Edit Anyway to change the setting.

The second thing you can do is provide a password.  The password is a key that encrypts your file. After this Word, asks you for the password every time somebody tries to access the doc. Save the password in a place you remember it because it is irretrievable. You can also restrict editing. This is on the Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane. This is a way to limit changes into the format and edits.

Third, you can also restrict certain permissions. This uses Information Rights Management or IRM to monitor which users can view or edit the file. If your network does not have a server like IRM, you can use a free service on the Web from Microsoft. There is information on this app and a wizard so that you can set it up. Upon configuring the IRM service, you can specify the users that have Read permission for the doc and which users only have Change permission. If either party is not on the list, then they may not open the document.

Finally, one of the best and simplest ways to keep your document secure is to ensure that only you have access to your PC and that you save it in a safe place. You may also save a copy on OneDrive. Make the most out of your Office 2010 download and be sure to keep track of the changes you yourself are making to the document.


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