How to Set and Remove Restrict Editing in Word 2016 Document
If you don’t want your Word document to be edited or modified by unauthorized users, it’s a good idea to set editing restrictions in the document. Now on this page, I would like to share with you how to set and remove restrict editing in Word 2016 document.
Part 1: How to set restrict editing in Word 2016
Step 1: Open the Word document, then click the Review menu and Restrict Editing.
Step 2: On the Restrict Editing pane which is displayed on the right side of the document, tick the restriction options you want to set and then click the button “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection”.
Step 3: When the Start Enforcing Protection dialog opens, select Password under Protection method, then type a password in the password boxes and click OK.
Step 4: Finally, press Ctrl + S to save the changes. Now the Word document is restricted editing and certain types of changes are not allowed until you remove the restrictions.
Part 2: How to remove restrict editing in Word 2016 document
If you don’t need editing restrictions anymore, you can stop it. There are three different methods to remove restrict editing from Word document, which depends on whether you have the password. Choose the appropriate method based on your own case.
Method 1: Remove restrict editing in Word document with your password
Step 1: Open the Word document. If the document is restricted editing, you will see the Restrict Editing pane on the right side of the document, or, you can click the Review menu and Restrict Editing to bring up the Restrict Editing pane.
Step 2: Click the Stop Protection button at the bottom of the Restrict Editing pane. When an “Unprotect Document” dialog pops up, type your password correctly and click OK. This will remove restrict editing from the Word document.
Step 3: Press Ctrl + S to save the changes.
As you can see, it’s very easy to stop editing restrictions as long as you have the password. However, if you forgot or lost the password that restricts editing, how do you remove restrict editing in Word? Don’t worry. Keep on reading.
Method 2: How to remove restrict editing in Word 2016 without the password
Step 1: Close the Word document.
Step 2: Change Word document’s file name extension from .docx to .zip. When a Rename dialog pops up asking if you’re sure to change it, click Yes to proceed.
Step 3: Now open the .zip file with WinZip or WinRAR.
Step 4: Find the word folder and open it. Then delete the settings.xml file inside the word folder. This will remove the editing restrictions from the Word document.
Step 5: Change the file name extension from *.zip back to *.docx. That’s it. Open the Word document and you can edit the document without any restrictions.
Tips: This method does not guarantee the safety of the Word document, changing a file name extension might (although the probability is very low) cause the file to be unusable. If your Word document contains crucial files or if you want a simpler approach to remove restrict editing in Word document without the password, then it’s recommended to choose the following Method Three.
Method 3: Remove restrict editing in Word 2016 with a specialized tool
Step 1: Close the Word document.
Step 2: Download and install the tool named iSumsoft Word Protection Refixer. When the installation is done, launch this tool.
Step 3: Click the Add button to add the editing restricted Word document to this tool.
Step 4: Click the Remove Password button. The editing restrictions will be removed immediately from the Word document and the document is unprotected.
Step 5: Exit this tool, then open your Word document. Now you can edit the Word document without any restrictions.
