Protecting a form is absolutely necessary if it’s going to be used in Word by anyone! When you protect a form, you prevent anyone from changing anything but the form fields. Trying to fill out an unprotected form would be a disaster: you can’t check checkboxes, drop-down menus won’t work, and text fields will be overwritten by whatever the person types.

To protect a form click the Protect Form button () on the Forms toolbar.

This form now appears to you the same way it will to people filling it out. Checkboxes can be checked, text fields can be typed in, and the drop-down menus are enabled.

After you have completed your form you should always protect it to ensure you don’t forget this vital step before sending the form out. You can always un-protect it later (by clicking the Protect Form button again) if you want to make changes.