MS Office document protection/passwords

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to prevent users from adding passwords to protect their office documents. The functionality seems to be a permanent part of the software, and is a serious problem if a user forgets or "doesn't recall" what the password is. The real problem comes from the "Password to open," which encrypts the entire document and can only be recovered by brute force.

Is there any way known to control this, such as remove the security tab from options?

Thanks in advance...
-Jim

 

Hello Jim and welcome to the BBS.

The only way I can see to remove the option to set a "Password to Open" on a word document is to remove the "Save As" command from the "File" menu.

To do this right click on the menu bar, click on "Customize "; click on "File" on the menu bar; click and hold on "Save As" and drag it off the drop down list and release the button. This will remove it from the File list options.

However, it won't stop others, who know how, from putting it back. It will also remove the entire "Save As" command.

Perhaps someone else on the BBS will have some other suggestions on how to remove only the Password to Open option.

 

JohnB,

Thanks for the idea, but that wouldn't prevent them from changing a password already in place, or adding a password to an exsisting file.

My perspective is that of a domain admin's, so if I could find a way to script, or a deploy GPO template, to stop this from being done it would be optimal.

Maby it would be better for me to contact Microsoft, if I do, I will post the results here.

Thanks
-Jim

 

Access, Excel, and Word - Configure a Policy Setting to Disable Password