First, you will need to ensure you have the Inspector open in either Pages, Numbers, or Keynote. To show the Inspector simply click the icon in the document Menu Bar, or proceed to View > Show Inspector. You can also press Command + Option + I.
Then ensure that you are in the Document tab, as shown above. At the very bottom of this window, you will notice a section that allows you to set a password for the document you are currently working on.
Simply click to activate. A password window will then be presented allowing you to enter and confirm the password you have chosen. You can also set a password hint if you find passwords difficult to remember. Please ensure the password hint is obscure enough as to not bring attention to the password you have chosen.
You will also notice a little key button on the right hand side of the password entry area. Pressing this will take you to Apple’s inbuilt Password Assistant. Essentially, it is a password generator that will assist you with creating a more secure password.
Once your password is set, you will then need to enter it again each time you open the document. You can always change the assigned password by selecting Change Password from the Document Inspector. To remove the password from the file, simply deselect this option. You will be asked to enter your password one final time before this extra level of protection is removed.
When you wish to view and edit a secured file in an iWork Suite app on your iOS device, you will be presented with the following request.
When you have submitted the correct password, your document will be immediately available for viewing and editing. It is important to note that by opening the document on your iOS device, you will have permanently disabled the password protection. This is the same situation should you be using the Beta of iWork for iCloud.
You can always reopen the file on your Mac and reassign the password, but that process is counter productive. Therefore, the only way to ensure 100% security is to only work with secured iWork files on your Mac.
If you would like more information relating to securing your information, or the iWork Suite of applications, please drop into the store to discuss your specific requirements.