* In Word 2007, click the Review tab, click Protect Document in the Protect group, click Restrict Formatting and Editing, and then click Stop Protection. To do this, perform one of the following actions: If you receive a document that is protected for comments, you can remove the protection. When you open such a file in an earlier version of Word, the document opens as protected for comments, permitting users to make comments to the file but not permitting edits to the content.

When you use this feature, you can make the overall content read-only while you grant editing permissions to specific users for specific parts of the document. Word 2003 and later versions of Word have a feature that permits you to assign permissions to specific parts of a document to specific users. I know it says - in an earlier version but try it anyway. Hold down the Ctrl key and then open Word, say yes to the pop-up.