How to Secure Personally Identifiable Information (PII) by Password Protecting a PDF Document in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat

Microsoft Word

The following are general instructions for locking a Word document using a password to protect its contents. Because of variations on product versions, the exact steps for your version may vary. These instructions are exact for Word 2007.

1. Create or open your document in Word

2. Select “Prepare” from the main drop-down menu.

3. Select “Encrypt a Document”

4. Enter the password provided to you by MHBE. Do not independently change your password when securing documents you send the Producer Help Line. Note that MHBE will change the password on a regular cycle and provide a new one to you.

5. Please note that a series of dots appear and not the actual password text. You will have to enter the password twice. REMEMBER THE PASSWORD.

Select “OK” This closes the dialog box.

6. Save the document. This engages the password.

7. Attach the document to your email message addressed to the Producer Help Line and send.

Microsoft has many products and versions. The actual instructions for your product or version may vary. Please go to MICROSOFT SECURITY HELP PAGE for details on locking your product if the above instructions are not correct (example for XP).

ADOBE

These are general instructions on how to password protect an Adobe PDF document. You have to have

access to an Adobe product that supports this feature. In this example, we are using Adobe Acrobat 9

Pro. You can use any version that supports the security feature.

1. Create or open your document

2. Select the “Secure Icon”

3. Select “Encrypt with Password”

4. Select “Yes” to the dialog box question “Are you sure you want to change the security of this

document”

5. Select Adobe Version 7.0 ( you may have to change this if your recipient has a problem and you have

to resend)

6. Select “Encrypt All Document Contents”

7. Select “require a Password to Open this Document” Enter the password provided to you by MHBE.

The provided password meets State standards (which can be found at this site):

http://doit.maryland.gov/support/documents/security_guidelines/password_policy.pdf

8. You can also restrict readers from making changes by entering a password to control edit features

(optional)

9. Click “OK”

You will be required to re-enter the password to confirm it. Keep the password secure and only share

with your intended recipient by telephone- never in email!

10. Notice warning “Security setting will not be applied until you save the document…” Click “OK”

11. You are now back in the document editing screen. Select “File”, then “Save As”

12. Select the file save location (desktop or a secured/locked folder) and name the document so you

can easily find it.

13. Select “Save” Now the document is password protected. You and all others will need to enter the

password to open and read.

14. Verify the security: Close the document and try to re-open it.

If you see this screen, enter your password. If it opens, you’re done. If not, go back to Step 2 and try

again.

15. When emailing encrypted documents to the Producer Help Desk, you do not need to contact the

Producer team step because the Producer Team has the password it provided to you.

16. Attach the document to your email message addressed to the Producer Help desk and send.

Adobe makes many products. The actual instructions for your product or version may vary. Please go to

ADOBE SECURITY HELP PAGE for details on locking your product if the above instructions are not correct.