It doesn’t matter who you are, what your background is, or what you do for a living. If you use a computer, you probably have some Word documents on your Mac or PC that you wouldn’t want other people to find and read.

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　　Thankfully, it’s easy to secure a Word 2013 document with a password. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do just that. In future updates, we’ll add instructions on how to secure Word and Word-compatible documents in other Word-like programs, like OpenOffice, and others.

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How to password protect a Word document

　　Image used with permission by copyright holderFrom there, click Encrypt with Password.

　　Image used with permission by copyright holderWord will then prompt you to type in a password. Pick one out, but keep in mind that if you forget what it is, you’ll lose access to that document.

　　Image used with permission by copyright holderOnce you select a password, Microsoft Word will prompt you to type it in every time you want to open that doc. Remember, this only protects the single target document. Each Word document you want to protect with a password must be done on an individual basis.

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