Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Allowing Only Comments In a Document.

Allowing Only Comments in a Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 6, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word includes the ability to protect your document so that only you can make changes to it; everyone else must add their changes by adding annotations or comments. If this type of document protection appeals to you, follow these steps if you are using Word 97 or Word 2000:

Choose Protect Document from the Tools menu. The Protect Document dialog box appears.
Make sure the Comments radio button is selected.
Enter an optional password. (This is a good idea, since anyone can turn protection off if you don't specify a password.)
Click on OK. Word displays the Confirm Password dialog box.
Enter your password again.
Click on OK.
Save your document.

If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, follow these steps instead:

Choose Protect Document from the Tools menu. Word displays the Protect Document pane at the right of the document window.
In the Editing Restrictions section of the pane, choose the Allow Only This Type of Editing in the Document checkbox. Word enables the drop-down list under the checkbox.
Using the drop-down list, choose Comments.
Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. Word displays the Start Enforcing Protection dialog box.
Enter a password (twice) in the dialog box.
Click on OK.
Save the file as normal.

With this type of protection turned on, people can still load and read the document. The only difference is that they cannot change anything in the document. The only thing they can do is add comments, which you can later review and act upon as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3430) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Allowing Only Comments In a Document.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Ignoring Hyphens in Word Counts

When you instruct Word to tell you how many words are in a document, it treats hyphenated words or phrases as if they are ...

Discover More

Specifying Location for a Message Box

When writing macros, you may want to position a message box at a specific location on the screen. This can't be done in ...

Discover More

Printing the Navigation Pane

The Navigation pane can be a handy tool for seeing the overall organization of your document and easily moving to ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Turning Off Document Protection

If you protect your document using the tools that Word provides, at some time you may need to turn off that protection. ...

Discover More

Protecting Your Revisions

Want to protect your documents so that people can't edit them without you knowing about it? One way is to make sure that ...

Discover More

Signing a Protected Form

Tablet PCs are great for some uses, such as signing forms developed in Word. You may run into a problem with getting the ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is two more than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.