Protect notes with a password in onenote for windows 10

Password protection keeps your notes safe from prying eyes. Whether you use OneNote at school, at work, or at home, passwords let you control access to specific sections in your notebooks.

Add a password to a section in your notebook

When your protect a notebook section with a password, all of its pages are locked until you enter the correct password.

1. Right-click the name of the notebook section that you want to protect, and then choose Password Protection > Add Password.

2. In the Password Protection window, type the password you want into the Enter Password box.

3. Type the password again into the Confirm Password box, and then press Enter.

Note: Choose your password carefully. If you forget your password, no one will be able to unlock your notes for you (not even Microsoft Technical Support).

Lock all protected sections in your notebook

If you've applied passwords to multiple sections in your notebook, you can lock them all at the same time.

• Right-click the name of any protected (but currently unlocked) notebook section, and then choose Password Protection > Lock Protected Sections. OneNote immediately locks all protected sections in the current notebook.

Note: To unlock a protected section and gain access to its pages, click the section you want to unlock, type its password into the Password box, and then press Enter. Keep in mind that protected sections will be locked again when you exit OneNote.

Change the password for a protected section

1. Right-click the name of any protected (but currently unlocked) notebook section whose password you want to change, and then choose Password Protection > Change Password. (If this option isn't available, it means that the current section doesn't have a password.)

2. In the Change Password window, type the current section password into the Old Password box.

3. In the Enter New Password box, type the new password that will replace the current one.

4. Type the new password again into the Confirm Password box, and then press Enter.

Note: Changing a password only affects the section that you're currently in. To change the passwords for other protected sections in your notebook, follow the preceding steps for each protected section.

Remove the password from a protected section

1. Right-click the name of any protected (but currently unlocked) notebook section whose password you want to remove, and then choose Password Protection > Remove Password. (If this option isn't available, it means that the current section doesn't have a password.)

2. In the Remove Password window, type the current password, and then press Enter.

Some important notes about passwords

• Passwords can be applied only to notebook sections, not to entire notebooks.

• Passwords are case-sensitive. Make sure that the Caps Lock key is off before you add or enter a password.

• OneNote uses encryption to secure password-protected sections. If you forget any of your section passwords, no one will be able to unlock those notes for you (not even Microsoft Technical Support). Take care when adding passwords to your notebook sections and when changing them.

• Password-protected sections aren't included in notebook searches. To include the notes in a protected section in a search, you'll have to unlock that section first.