Microsoft 365: Word Advanced (2023): Security

Name: Microsoft 365: Word Advanced (2023): Security
Author: Catherine Smith

Learn the steps to secure a document from unwanted interference

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 4 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Catherine Smith, and in these lessons I will be showing you how to work with hidden text within a document. We'll be taking a look at document properties and the document inspector. We'll use password protection to secure our documents and look at other methods of security. We'll also take a look at digital signatures. Let's begin by discussing the hidden text formatting option. You'll notice I have a sample newsletter on the screen. Toward the bottom of the first page, there's a paragraph announcing a back-to-school event. Let's say that the approval has not been fully secured for this event to take place. So it's possible I may need to remove this paragraph from the document. In order to keep the paragraph in place so that if it turned out that we were going to hold the event, I'd be ready to go. However, I would like to for now hide the text so it would not appear if this document were printed, viewed online, or any number of different methods for making the document available. So I'm going to select this paragraph. Once selected, I'll be choosing the dialog box within the font group contained within the home tab on the ribbon. Within the dialog box in the font tab, I have an effect called hidden. I'm going to enable the hidden effect and select OK. You will observe that that hidden text no longer appears within the document. If I were to print this document, it would not appear. Now, there are a variety of reasons to use hidden text as stated in the example. It could be perhaps a contract that is being developed and there are portions which are still under discussion and have not yet been approved. It's also possible there may be sensitive information within a document, confidential, and when presenting the document in a meeting, it may be preferred to just simply hide that portion of the document. There are numerous reasons, but once the text is hidden, you won't see it. Now, let's say that I would like to turn on my Show Hide toggle button. And at that point, all the non-printing characters will appear. I see paragraph symbols at each end of paragraph. I see a section break. In fact, it even lets me know it's a continuous section break. Spaces have dots between the words you'll notice. Now, when we scroll down again toward the bottom of the first page, the sentence which was hidden will appear. It will have a dotted underline designating that this is hidden text. So for the purposes of editing the document, it's possible that you may prefer to display the hidden text knowing full well that when the document or if the document were to be printed, this would not appear. Again, if I toggle the Show Hide button off, the hidden text disappears. So let's say I'd like to remove the hidden designation or hidden formatting option from that paragraph. In order to do that, I'm going to need to once again turn on my hidden characters. Then I'm going to select the paragraph, choose the dialog box associated with the font group, and I'm going to turn that formatting effect off for the selected text. You'll notice that dotted underline disappears and this becomes text which would print and whose behavior would be just like the other paragraphs. I'm going to turn my Show Hide toggle button back off. Stay tuned for the next lesson. We'll be taking a look at document properties and the document inspector. Thanks for watching.

Advanced Provider : Catherine Smith 4 Lessons · 21m in English

Course Description

Maintaining the integrity of documents you create is critical, and Microsoft 365 Word includes several features for advancing that goal. With the increase in online content consumption and document sharing, it is important to strip away any personal or sensitive information from a document prior to its public distribution. Using tools like the document inspector, digital signatures, and password protection, the Word user has more control over selecting metadata and general content. Viewing printing and non-printing characters embedded within the document provides a more comprehensive view of the document.

In these lessons, you will learn how to format text with the hidden format applied. We’ll explain the importance of the show/hide button in relation to hidden text. You’ll also learn how to access document properties and Word’s onboard document inspector. The importance of maintaining the integrity of a document will be enhanced through the use of the document inspector, password protection, digital signatures, and other forms of security.

What You'll Learn

Apply hidden text formatting and use the show/hide button to reveal hidden text
Access document properties and use Word's onboard document inspector
Protect documents with password protection to maintain document integrity
Add digital signatures using the options available in the online and desktop versions of Word
View printing and non-printing characters embedded within a document
Strip away personal or sensitive information from a document before public distribution

Key Takeaways

Microsoft 365 Word includes several features for maintaining the integrity of documents you create.
Before public distribution, it is important to strip away personal or sensitive information from a document.
The document inspector, digital signatures, and password protection give the Word user more control over metadata and general content.
Viewing printing and non-printing characters provides a more comprehensive view of the document.
The show/hide button is important for working with hidden text formatting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It covers Microsoft 365 Word security features including hiding content with formatting, document properties and the document inspector, password protection and securing documents, and digital signatures.

What skills will I gain from this course?

You will gain skills in digital signatures, document review, and password protection for securing documents.

What are the learning objectives?

To understand the importance of document integrity, explain the different digital signature options available for the online and desktop versions of Word, and demonstrate how to apply hidden text formatting.

Why is document security important in Word?

Maintaining the integrity of documents you create is critical, and with the increase in online content consumption and document sharing it is important to strip away personal or sensitive information before public distribution.