Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access) have a built in feature allowing users to easily encrypt their sensitive documents with a password. This is available for Microsoft Office versions 2007 and newer.
1. In order to encrypt a Microsoft Office document, click the File tab in order to bring up the following menu. Then, view the Info section.
2. Click the icon to Protect Document (or Worksheet / Presentation) and select "Encrypt with Password" from the dropdown menu.
3. It will then prompt you to input a password in order to encrypt the document. A longer password is always more secure. Then, click OK.
4. The next time the document is opened, it will ask for the password before allowing the document to be viewed or edited.
