Password Protection on Word Documents

[Brendan Vassallo]

I previous colleague of mine has passwrod protected a document and has now
left the company without revealing the password.

Is there any way that the password protection can be removed if the password
is not known?

 

[Graham Mayor]

If the password is used to inhibit opening of the document then no. The
document is encrypted and you need the password. The simplest approach would
be to contact the former employee. There are software cracking solutions
that you could use at your own risk, but they are not as impressive as the
demos would suggest and for a complex password can take hours - or longer -
of processing to determine the password, and then you have the issue of
giving your credit card details to someone who cracks passwords!

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[DeanH]

I have had varying success with WordKey, to extract old passwords.
Best of Luck
DeanH

 

[Brendan Vassallo]

The password was used to protect the document so that it can be filled in as
a form. Is there a way to find out the password?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Use Insert | File to insert the document into a new blank document. This
will remove the protection.

 

[Brendan Vassallo]

You are a dead set legend...thank you so much

Use Insert | File to insert the document into a new blank document. This
will remove the protection.

 

[Valentin Bakran]

Hi
We have the same problem at our company. I've tried your tip, but it doesn't
work. It still asks after the password. Depending on XP or the version of
Word?

Please advise!

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" skrev:

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This works only for form protection, not a password to open.

 

[NAPALMFACE]

If the password is used to inhibit opening of the document then no. The
document is encrypted and you need the password. The simplest approach would
be to contact the former employee. There are software cracking solutions
that you could use at your own risk, but they are not as impressive as the
demos would suggest and for a complex password can take hours - or longer -
of processing to determine the password, and then you have the issue of
giving your credit card details to someone who cracks passwords!

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>



Dear Brendan,

I read your post. Most people do not realize that although they may have
encrypted their "whatevers" on their computers for security reasons. The
majority of the time if you go into the browsers password file you will find
someones passwords to everything 99% of the time.