Ctrl F in protected document?

Question

We have some lengthy form documents that have password protection user restrictions to prevent text editing.

Unfortunately, with the restrictions the Find feature (Ctrl F) is no longer available to the users.

Is it possible to make the Find feature available while still restricting text editing?

Answer 1

This appears to be a limitation with protected documents in Word 2010. For what it's worth, Ctrl+F does work in Word 2013.

In Word 2010, I can't think of anything but temporarily turning off the protection and performing the search. I'm guessing that users don't have the option to do that manually, so you will have to make use of a macro.

Answer 2

Thanks for the quick response.  We thought we were going crazy...

The work around we found was to add a blank section at the end that is not restricted.  The user can click into that 'section' and the Find feature is again available.  It allows you do the search, but will not allow the user to 'click' forward through the found items.  However, the items are highlighted throughout the document and the user can scroll through, see the highlights, and review the associated text. Not ideal, but certainly doable.  Thank you!

Answer 3

I suspect we may be discussing different things here... Applying only editing restrictions doesn't affect the ability to find text. However, using forms protection (the "Filling in forms" option under "2. Editing restrictions" in the Restrict Formatting and Editing task pane) does. When testing, don't forget to click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button.

Answer 4

Thanks for the quick response.  We thought we were going crazy...

 

The work around we found was to add a blank section at the end that is not restricted.  The user can click into that 'section' and the Find feature is again available.  It allows you do the search, but will not allow the user to 'click' forward through the found items.  However, the items are highlighted throughout the document and the user can scroll through, see the highlights, and review the associated text. Not ideal, but certainly doable.  Thank you!

 

I don't have an answer as to why you are having this problem, but for what it's worth, I use Word 2010 and I took several documents (docx and doc extensions) and restricted their formatting and editing.  I did not add a blank section at the end.  I was able to search through the document, including clicking forward, with no problems.   I also created a short form and restricted the formatting and editing and had the same results.  One of my settings must be different than yours, but I can't imagine which.

Answer 5

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm glad you were able to find a workaround.