GPO to Prevent Password Protection

Article
2017-06-23

Question

_{Friday, June 23, 2017 12:45 PM}

Is there a GPO avail that will allow me to prevent users from password protecting M$ Office 2013/2016 files ?

We've already had a circumstance where a user left the company, but had some password protected word and excel docs.

I'd like to NEVER be stuck with this prob again, especially in the case of a firing, rather than a retiring.

All replies (2)

_{Monday, June 26, 2017 6:12 AM}

Hi,

The group policy setting that you need is "Disable Password to open UI" under:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016 (or 2013)\Security Settings

This policy setting controls whether Office users can add password encryption to documents. (Users would access this feature in Microsoft Office tab--click Info, click Protect Document, then click Encrypt with Password.)

If you enable this policy setting, users cannot password protect their Office documents.

Regards,

Ethan Hua

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Wednesday, June 28, 2017 10:45 AM}

Hi,

Just want to do a follow up on this and see whether the information above was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.