Protection & properties

This group of instructions manages a document’s properties and protection: its metadata (title, author, subject, keywords, description), editing restrictions, a write-protection password, the compatibility level, and the “mark as final” flag.

Prerequisite: before using any of these instructions, the workflow must already have a DOCX document created or opened (with Create text doc), which these instructions will act upon.

These concepts recur across several instructions in this group; they are explained here once.

• Document: indicates which document in the workflow the instruction applies to. If left empty, the current document is used.

• Dynamic values (@name): in any text field you can type @ followed by the name of a value saved earlier in the workflow, and it will be replaced by that value. For example, if you saved an author name in docAuthor, you can type @docAuthor in the Author field.

• “From variable” fields: the @name trick only works in text fields. So that a numeric field (here, Compatibility version in Set Compatibility Level) can also take its value from a saved value, it has a companion “from variable” field:

  • If you leave it empty, the value typed in the normal field is used.
  • If you fill it in with the name of a saved value, the engine ignores the normal field and uses that variable’s value.

  This is mainly for chaining instructions (one instruction saves a value, the next one reads it). If you only work with fixed values, you can ignore this field.

• Configure Editing Permissions .docx
• Mark Document As Final .docx
• Protect Document With Write Password .docx
• Set Compatibility Level .docx
• Set Document Properties .docx

Configure Editing Permissions .docx

Restricts what readers are allowed to change in the document, enforcing a single editing mode across the whole document.

When to use it: to lock a document down so recipients can only comment, only fill in form fields, only make tracked changes, or not edit at all.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Allowed editing	What readers are allowed to do, chosen from a fixed list: Nothing (read only) (readOnly) · Only comments (comments) · Only tracked changes (trackedChanges) · Only form fields (forms) · Everything (no protection) (none)	readOnly (Nothing)	No

Important behavior: this single choice decides everything — there is no priority to work out. Everything (no protection) removes the restriction from the document, so it is also how you undo a previous call to this instruction. The restriction has no password, so a reader can lift it from the word processor’s protection options; use Protect Document With Write Password to require a password.

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Mark Document As Final .docx

Marks the document as final — a flag that tells the word processor the document is complete, so it opens in read-only mode and discourages further editing.

When to use it: to signal that a document is finished and should not be casually edited.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Is final	Yes marks the document as final; No removes the mark	Yes	No
Is final (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: this is an intent flag only, not real protection — a reader can still choose to edit the document. Setting Is final to No removes any existing final mark.

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Protect Document With Write Password .docx

Restricts the document to read-only, optionally requiring a password to turn editing back on.

When to use it: to hand out a document people can read but not modify unless they know the password.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Password	Password needed to enable editing; empty = read-only with no password. Supports @name	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if Password is empty, the document is still set to read-only, but the restriction can be lifted in the word processor without a password. Any existing protection is replaced.

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Set Compatibility Level .docx

Sets the version of the format the document declares compatibility with.

When to use it: to make the document behave as a specific version’s format, for example when a recipient uses an older word processor.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Compatibility version	Target version: 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016/2019/2021	2019	No
Compatibility version (from variable)	Reads the version from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: any value other than 2007, 2010, or 2013 is treated as the latest level (2016/2019/2021). Any existing compatibility setting is replaced.

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Set Document Properties .docx

Sets the document’s metadata — the information a word processor shows in its “Properties” panel, such as title, author, subject, keywords, and description.

When to use it: to fill in the document’s title and author, or to add keywords that make the file easier to find.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Title	Document title. Supports @name	(empty)	No
Author	Author name. Supports @name	(empty)	No
Subject	Document subject. Supports @name	(empty)	No
Keywords	Keywords, usually comma-separated. Supports @name	(empty)	No
Description	Description or comments about the document. Supports @name	(empty)	No

Important behavior: only the fields you fill in are updated; any field you leave empty keeps its current value (it is not cleared). You can call this instruction several times to set different fields without losing the ones set earlier.

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