Making a Word doc non-editable 1

[MalcUK]

I need users to preview a document without being able to edit it at all. Opening a file as Read Only still allows editing (even though it blocks a save)

PrintPreview looks good, but on closing that, the user is back to an editable view.

Is there a way of opening a document in word basic so that the users cannot change anything? Or perhaps a call to the windows API that will hide the main word screen so that only the preview screen is visible?

 

[ManicMark]

Not exactly what you require but could be an option, change the file to .pdf format. Free pdf creator software here:

http://www.pdf995.com/

M

 

[MalcUK]

Hmmm ... this is indeed a possibility. I could use automation to output the document to PDF format, and then bring up the PDF viewer. Thanks Mark. I'll give it a go.

 

[fneily]

I know you said you don't want ANY edits, but have you looked at Track Changes. Tools - Track Changes - Highlight Changes. You set this on a copy of your document, and send it out over then network to your peers. They can make changes, but the original and changes are shown. Then when you get their ideas back, you can do Tools-Track Changes-Compare Documents. Then you can do Tools-Track Changes - Accept Or Reject Changes to accept their idea or keep the original. If you have several copies coming back to you, you can do a Tools-Merge Documents first which will incorporate all changes into one document so you then can accept or reject the changes.

 

[tf1]

You need to use Tools, Protect Document.

Regards: tf1