Protect

Protect(ProtectionType)

Protects the document from changes without changing the existing password or assigns a random password.

public void Protect(ProtectionType type)
ParameterTypeDescription
typeProtectionTypeSpecifies the protection type for the document.

Remarks

When a document is protected, the user can make only limited changes, such as adding annotations, making revisions, or completing a form.

When you protect a document, and the document already has a protection password, the existing protection password is not changed.

When you protect a document, and the document does not have a protection password, this method assigns a random password that makes it impossible to unprotect the document in Microsoft Word, but you still can unprotect the document in Aspose.Words as it does not require a password when unprotecting.

Examples

Shows how to turn off protection for a section.

Document doc = new Document();

DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(doc);
builder.Writeln("Section 1. Hello world!");
builder.InsertBreak(BreakType.SectionBreakNewPage);

builder.Writeln("Section 2. Hello again!");
builder.Write("Please enter text here: ");
builder.InsertTextInput("TextInput1", TextFormFieldType.Regular, "", "Placeholder text", 0);

// Apply write protection to every section in the document.
doc.Protect(ProtectionType.AllowOnlyFormFields);

// Turn off write protection for the first section.
doc.Sections[0].ProtectedForForms = false;

// In this output document, we will be able to edit the first section freely,
// and we will only be able to edit the contents of the form field in the second section.
doc.Save(ArtifactsDir + "Section.Protect.docx");

See Also

Protect(ProtectionType, string)

Protects the document from changes and optionally sets a protection password.

public void Protect(ProtectionType type, string password)
ParameterTypeDescription
typeProtectionTypeSpecifies the protection type for the document.
passwordStringThe password to protect the document with. Specify null or empty string if you want to protect the document without a password.

Remarks

When a document is protected, the user can make only limited changes, such as adding annotations, making revisions, or completing a form.

Note that document protection is different from write protection. Write protection is specified using the WriteProtection.

Examples

Shows how to protect and unprotect a document.

Document doc = new Document();
doc.Protect(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, "password");

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, doc.ProtectionType);

// If we open this document with Microsoft Word intending to edit it,
// we will need to apply the password to get through the protection.
doc.Save(ArtifactsDir + "Document.Protect.docx");

// Note that the protection only applies to Microsoft Word users opening our document.
// We have not encrypted the document in any way, and we do not need the password to open and edit it programmatically.
Document protectedDoc = new Document(ArtifactsDir + "Document.Protect.docx");

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, protectedDoc.ProtectionType);

DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(protectedDoc);
builder.Writeln("Text added to a protected document.");
// There are two ways of removing protection from a document.
// 1 - With no password:
doc.Unprotect();

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.NoProtection, doc.ProtectionType);

doc.Protect(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, "NewPassword");

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, doc.ProtectionType);

doc.Unprotect("WrongPassword");

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.ReadOnly, doc.ProtectionType);

// 2 - With the correct password:
doc.Unprotect("NewPassword");

Assert.AreEqual(ProtectionType.NoProtection, doc.ProtectionType);

See Also

Document.Print Document.RemoveBlankPages