Unprotect MS word Doument.

This is a how to on how to recover access to a word document that has been protected to disable editing.

In MS word if you go to the tools menu then select 'protect document' you can set the password to protect the document from editing. Useful feature if it s a memo or a form that needs to be passed about and you don't want anyone to make changes to it.

Now what happens if you forget the password and you need to make changes to the document?

For this instructable you will need.

1) A protected word document.
2) Ms Word.
3) Text Editor (like WordPad or Notepad).
4) Hex editor (Like WinHex).

Step 1 Method 1: Copy contents of the document into a new document.

One of the disadvantages of using this method is that you might mess up some of the formatting especially if you don't have all the fonts etc. Also some of the protection options even might prevent copying.


Open the protected document do a Ctrl + A to select everything in the document.

Do a Ctrl + C to copy the selected area

Open a new document

Do a Ctrl + V to paste the selected area

Save the new document.

The new document is ready for you to make changes.

Comments

[Dee key]

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[IPR123]

Thank you for the good idea.

I tried it on a file with edit protection in word 2010

At this stage I opened it up in Notepad++ and I found the password was shown as all zeros (was not blank in word however). So couldnt use the hex approach.

So I just deleted the two xml lines referring to protection, re opened in word and it seems to be fine. Note that you have to reset the view mode from web to normal otherwise the document looks odd on screen.

I also noticed that openoffice ignores the protection.

[amclean4]

it lets me go to tools but it doesnt let me select protect or unprotect document :@

[rscsmith]

Useful instructable! Thanks. Just one edit suggestion:-

If you're using Word XP/2003 there is a short-cut. Try this:-
(courtesy of http://itmanager.blogs.com/notes/2005/04/how_to_crack_un.html )

If you are using office XP or 2003, you can change the view to HTML-Code using Microsoft Script-Editor by pressing the [Alt]+[Shift]+[F11] key combination.

Search for "Password" and you will find somethimg like this:
ReadOnly
19E8E61E

To remove the protection:
-Just remove those two lines, and after saving the document , the protection is gone.

To remove the password:
-replace the Password, here "19E8E61E", with "00000000", save the Document and close "Script-Editor".

Alternative you can save your document as .html and use a html-Editor.

Cheers, Rob.

[ixilon]

It worked for me, Office 2003 + Notepad++ and HxD. Great work!

[juiya]

Thanks, Jezza Bear! Worked for me

[riskrail]

Here is the easiest way I have found to unprotect a word document: save file as a Rich Text File File will appear with file name followed by .rtf Open .rtf and save as a word document click Tools and select Unprotect This should give you the file unprotected.

[squirmster]

Any idea how I would get this to work with password protected pdfs? I often have to capture contents of these and I can't copy the text from them.

[ScottMcLeod]

Use Colorsync in OS X. Open document Save as... (new name) TA-DAA! No password. Google if you have any more questions.

[pixil]

hey, i tried this but couldn't find the string in the hex editor. so i just went back to the html file, deleted the entire line that referenced the password protection. then i saved the modified html file, opened it in word, and was able to turn off the protection. silly users locking themselves out of their own documents. thanks for the tips though!

[jchar77]

You don't even need hex editor... You save it as a .htm file, find the 8 letter code and replace it with 8 zeros. Nice try though!

[zaeka_dori]

10x, Jezza Bear. That's brilliant and very useful.

[alvincredible]

omg that could be used to hack a grades sheet or something at school. like my teacher does that and lets us see our grades from the network drive, but they are unchangeable. i promise never to put this info to bad use. :-)

[Jezza Bear]

Even simpler way is this: 1) Create a blank new document. 2) Select Insert | File... 3) Browse to the document, then click Insert. You'll have the unprotected form document on your hands. Much simpler and not underhand.....the reason this is done is to protect the document from changes for version control

[lemonie]

I'm not sure that I get this. How do you open a password protected doccument? The password would prevent you from doing this? If you can open the protected doccument and view it, where is the advantage in de-protecting it? (please explain, I'm tired and must have missed something) L

[rislejay]

There are two levels of password protection in Word. Password needed to open the document and password needed to modify the document.

[lemonie]

And you can get around the 'modify' password with 'save as'. The actual unprotection of the original is interesting, but I can't see the use(?)

L

[tuxracer66]

You don't need it with OpenOffice - it ignores the protection by word (in most cases)

[rimar2000]

The step 5 doesn't work in MS Word 97.

[rislejay]

Tried this in Word XP and 2003 without any luck. Maybe an update patched this hole or it never existed in these versions.

[Taotaoba]

I just tried it in Word 2000. The protected document cannot prevent you from openning and even editing, but the later changes will be prevented or marked as red (Depends on what you choose to protect). Thanks for sharing.