Lockable fields on word document

Question

I am creating a fillable doc form we use to book a community hall.

I used Developer - Controls - Plain Text Content Control to create fillable boxes, which works fine.

Part of the form though, I need to fill in prior to sending to customer. (Fees, which vary booking to booking)

I am trying to lock the fees field after I fill it in so that the customer cannot amend the fee.

I tried restrict editing, but fields are greyed out.

Any suggestions how I can fill these in and lock them, prior to sending to customer, who then fills in remainder of form?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you are on Windows, do not use legacy formfields. Use Content Controls.

You can set a content control to delete the control (not the contents that have been added) when edited. This is in properties.https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/content_control_fillin_form.html

My preference for simple locking is to select the entire form and apply a Group Content Control. Then in properties, check the box that it cannot be deleted.

Anyone can undo this, but most people will not have any idea how.

For a bit more protection against changes, you can Restrict Editing to No Changes - with exceptions and set a password. This takes more to get around. https://www.addbalance.com/word/nocopies.htm#StartPage

Answer 2

Use content controls’ own locking plus (optionally) section protection.

There are two main approaches.

1. Lock just the fee controls (no overall document protection)

1. Open the form template/document.
2. Click in the fee field content control.
3. On the Developer tab, in the Controls group, select Properties.
4. In the Content Control Properties dialog, under Locking:
   • Select “Content control cannot be deleted” so recipients cannot remove the control.
   • Select “Contents cannot be edited” so recipients cannot change the fee value.
5. Repeat for each fee-related content control.

With this, the fee fields can be edited while designing the template (or by clearing the lock temporarily), but once locked and sent, the recipient cannot change those values while still being able to fill other unlocked controls.

If there are multiple fee controls, first group them, then lock:

1. Select all fee content controls (Ctrl+click each).
2. Developer tab → Controls group → Group → Group.
3. With the group selected, Developer → Properties → set the Locking options as above.

This follows the documented method for “Add protection to parts of a template.”

2. Use Restrict Editing for sections (if needed)

If Restrict Editing is required and not greyed out (for example, on a different machine or after resolving licensing issues):

1. Split the document into sections so that the fee area is in its own section (see “Insert a section break” in the linked article).
2. Developer → Restrict Editing.
3. Configure editing restrictions so that the fee section is protected while other sections remain editable (use “Select Sections” in the Restrict Editing pane).
4. Choose “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection” and set a password.

This lets the customer edit only the unprotected sections (their details) while the fee section remains locked.

If Restrict Editing is greyed out everywhere, verify that Word is activated and not in an expired or read-only licensing state, because protection options can be unavailable in that case.

---

References:

• Create a form in Word that users can complete or print
• Edit templates
• Change the Editability of a Content Control
• I can't edit my word doc. - Microsoft Q&A
• Protecting a Word Document from Copy, Pasting and editing - Microsoft Q&A