Add protection to an online form

You can add protection to individual content controls or a group of content controls in an online form to help prevent someone from deleting or changing them. You can also help protect all of the form content with a password.What do you want to do?

Add protection to parts of a form

Add protection to all of the contents of a form

Add protection to parts of a form

1. Open the form that you want to help protect.
2. Select the content controls or the group of controls to which you want to restrict changes.
3. On the Developer tab, in the Controls group, click Properties.

   

4. In the Content Control Properties dialog box, under Locking, do either of the following:
   • Select the Content control cannot be deleted check box, which allows the content of the control to be edited, but the control itself cannot be deleted from the form.
   • Select the Contents cannot be edited check box, which allows you to delete the control but does not allow you to edit the content in the control.

     Note This option is not available for all controls.

Add protection to all of the contents of a form

1. Open the form that you want to help protect.
2. Make sure that you are not in design mode by clicking Design Mode in the Controls group.

   

3. On the Developer tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Document, and then click Restrict Formatting and Editing.
4. In the Protect Document task pane, under Editing restrictions, select the Allow only this type of editing in the document check box.
5. In the list of editing restrictions, select Filling in forms.
6. Under Start enforcement, click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
7. To assign a password to the document so that only reviewers who know the password can remove the protection, type a password in the Enter new password (optional) box, and then confirm the password.

   Important If you choose not to use a password, anyone can change your editing restrictions.