Password Protecting Word Documents

[JLW1]

We're trying to password protect Word documents but have found that passwords
on doc and docx files can be easily removed by converting to docx, then back
down to doc. Whaila! The password is then gone. Does anyone know why
Microsoft setup passwords to behave in this manner? Also, is there anyway to
prevent the removal of the password when a document is converted from docx to
doc?

 

[Graham Mayor]

Any document you allow someone to view is vulnerable to this sort of
manipulation. If you convert a document between formats a new file is
created. The original file should remain and still be password protected.
However, how are you converting the documents? In tests I have conducted
here, the password remains across such a change.

Note that there are various levels of security that you can apply to the
passwords and in Word doc format the default is the weakest. Set one of the
higher levels of encrypted security and see how you get on with that.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[JLW1]

Hmmm... I think my first question wasn't typed correctly to really convey
what we're trying to do. Do you have any suggestions for this?
-We are creating dotx templates. We would like users to be able to open the
templates without requiring a password, yet maintain a password so that the
documents cannot be edited.
-When we enable a password in the Developer ribbon protection section, the
password does not prompt when a new document is created from the template -
it only prompts when you open up the document to edit it.
-If we enable the Modify password from Save As > Tools > General Options,
the document prompts for a modify password, however, when the user selects to
open the document as read only, they can then save the file as a doc format
to remove the password and then edit the document.
-Is there any to ensure a password, to prohibit modifying the document,
stays with the document?