How to Lock Track Changes With a Password

You need to send a document for review but want to prevent reviewers from turning off Track Changes or accepting or rejecting edits without your permission. Word includes a built-in feature called Force Protect that locks Track Changes with a password, making the document read-only for editing while still allowing tracked changes to be made. This article explains how to enable this protection, what happens when the password is applied, and what to do if you need to remove it later.

How Word’s Track Changes Lock Works

Word uses a feature called Editing Restrictions to lock the document so that only tracked changes are allowed. When you enable this restriction, the following happens:

• All edits made by any user are automatically tracked, even if the reviewer has Track Changes turned off in their own Word settings.
• The Track Changes toolbar buttons for accepting, rejecting, and turning off tracking are grayed out and cannot be clicked.
• The document is still fully readable, but no text can be deleted or added without the change being marked as a tracked change.
• A password is required to remove the protection. Without the password, the restriction cannot be lifted.

This lock is not the same as a file-open password (encryption). Anyone can open and view the document. The lock only controls editing behavior. You can also combine this with a separate password for opening the document using File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password, but that is a different feature.

Steps to Lock Track Changes With a Password

Follow these steps to apply the restriction. You must have the original document open in Word on Windows or Mac. The steps are nearly identical in Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, Word 2019, and Word 2016.

1. Open the document in Word
   Make sure the document is the final version you want to protect. Any existing tracked changes will remain visible and will still be locked — reviewers will not be able to accept or reject them.
2. Go to the Review tab
   On the ribbon at the top of the Word window, click the Review tab. This tab contains all the tools for tracking changes, comments, and protection.
3. Click Protect and then Restrict Editing
   In the Protect group on the far right of the Review tab, click the Protect button (a padlock icon). From the dropdown menu, select Restrict Editing. The Restrict Editing pane opens on the right side of the window.
4. Enable editing restrictions
   In the Restrict Editing pane, under the section 2. Editing restrictions, check the box labeled Allow only this type of editing in the document. A dropdown list appears below the checkbox.
5. Select Track changes only
   From the dropdown list, choose Track changes only. This is the only option that forces all edits to be tracked. Do not select No changes (Read only) or Comments — those options will prevent any editing or allow only comments, respectively.
6. Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection
   At the bottom of the Restrict Editing pane, click the button labeled Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. A dialog box titled Start Enforcing Protection appears.
7. Enter and confirm the password
   In the Password field, type a password. In the Reenter password to confirm field, type the same password again. Click OK. The password is case-sensitive and should be something you can remember or store in a password manager. If you lose the password, you cannot remove the protection.
8. Verify the lock is active
   After you click OK, the Restrict Editing pane updates. It now shows the message This document is protected from unintentional editing. Below that, a button labeled Stop Protection appears. The Track Changes toolbar buttons (Accept, Reject, Track Changes toggle) are grayed out. Close the Restrict Editing pane by clicking the X in its upper-right corner.

Common Issues After Locking Track Changes

I cannot turn off Track Changes or accept or reject changes

This is the intended behavior. The lock prevents anyone from modifying the tracked changes state. To regain full control, you must remove the protection by entering the password. Go to Review > Protect > Restrict Editing, then click Stop Protection at the bottom of the pane. Enter the password and click OK. After that, Track Changes behaves normally again.

I forgot the password and cannot remove the lock

Word does not provide a built-in password recovery tool for editing restrictions. If you lose the password, you cannot remove the lock through normal means. Third-party password recovery tools exist, but they are not guaranteed to work and may violate your organization’s security policy. The safest approach is to keep a copy of the document before locking it, or store the password in a secure location such as a password manager.

Reviewers can still copy the document content

Locking Track Changes does not prevent someone from copying text from the document and pasting it into a new, unprotected document. If you need to prevent content from being copied, you must use a different protection method, such as Information Rights Management (IRM) in Microsoft 365 or a third-party digital rights management tool. The Track Changes lock only controls how edits are made within the original document.

Reviewers can still insert comments

When you select Track changes only as the editing restriction, comments are still allowed. Reviewers can add, edit, and delete comments. If you want to block comments as well, you must choose No changes (Read only) instead, but that prevents all editing including tracked changes. You cannot selectively block comments while allowing tracked changes using the built-in protection. To work around this, you can instruct reviewers not to add comments, or you can remove comments after the review is complete using Review > Delete.

The password dialog asks for a password when I open the document

This only happens if you also set a file-open password (encryption) using File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password. The Track Changes lock does not require a password to open the document. If you see a password prompt upon opening, you have applied both types of protection. Enter the file-open password to view the document. The Track Changes lock password is only needed when you try to stop protection.

Track Changes Lock vs Other Protection Methods

Item	Track Changes Lock (Editing Restrictions)	File-Open Password (Encryption)
Purpose	Forces all edits to be tracked and prevents turning off tracking	Prevents anyone from opening the document without the password
Password required to open	No	Yes
Password required to edit	Yes, to remove the restriction	No, once opened
Track Changes remains on	Yes, enforced	No effect on Track Changes
Can copy content	Yes	Yes, after opening
Applied from	Review > Protect > Restrict Editing	File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password

You can combine both methods on the same document. First set a file-open password to control who can view the file, then apply the Track Changes lock to control how they edit it. Each password is independent, so you must remember both.

You can now lock Track Changes in any Word document using the Restrict Editing pane with a password. This ensures that all reviewers must work with tracked changes on and cannot accept or reject edits without your permission. Next time you prepare a document for collaborative review, apply this lock before distributing it. As an advanced tip, you can also apply the lock to only a portion of the document by selecting a specific section before enabling the restriction, but this requires using the Exempt users option in the Restrict Editing pane, which is available only with Microsoft 365 or SharePoint-based permissions.