Word includes sophisticated capabilities that let us generate and password-protect professional documents. But entering a password every time you want to see a document, even if it’s no longer classified, may be annoying. Password loss is another concern. This guide will show you how to remove passwords from word documents.
Part 1: Two main methods for password protection.
Understanding how a Word document is secured is crucial before deleting the password. Microsoft password-protects documents by locking them and preventing modification.
Locking all documents:
Encrypt Word documents using a password to prevent unwanted access. In File > Info > Protect Document, select Encrypt with Password. Anyone trying to open the document will be asked for a password. A strong and remember password is required, as forgetting it will prevent recovery.
Limitations in editing:
If you want to limit the ability to edit your document, you can use the editing restriction feature.
- Step 1: Go to File > Info > Protect Document > Restrict Editing. The editing restriction panel will appear on the right side.
- Step 2: Select “Allow only this type of editing in the document” and choose “No changes (read-only)” from the drop-down menu. Then click “Yes, start enforcing protection.”
- Step 3: Click “Start Enforcement” under the protection method. Please enter the password and click OK.
- Step 4: Save and open a new Word document again. When editing the document, a password will be required. Once you know the password, you can remove the password protection.
Part 2: How to Remove the Password Protection from a Word Document When You Know the Password
Removing password protection is easy if you know the password.
To remove the password from a fully locked Word document:
- Step 1: Open the Word program and enter the password.
- Step 2: Click on File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.
- Step 3: Delete the password and click OK.
To remove the password from a document that has editing restrictions:
- Step 1: Open the password-protected Word file.
- Step 2: Go to Check > Protect > Stop Protection.
- Step 3: Word will ask for a password to disable editing restrictions. Please enter the password to unlock this file.
Part 3: Removing password protection when the password is unknown.
If you forget your password and have important information in that file, there are several options for you to consider.
Method 1: Save a Word document as RTF.
- Step 1: Use Notepad or TextEdit to convert the Word file to .rtf format.
- Step 2: Use the search and replace tool to change “passwordhash” in the .rtf file to “nopassword.”
- Step 3: Open the .rtf file in Microsoft Word and select Review > Restrict Editing.
- Step 4: Remove all protections by unchecking the various boxes and save the document as .docx.
Method 2: Use WordPad to save Word documents.
Although WordPad has limited features compared to Microsoft Word, it can help in removing password protection.
- Step 1: Right-click on the document, select “Open with,” and then choose WordPad.
- Step 2: In WordPad, click “Save a Copy” to create an editable version of the Word file.
Method 3: Use Google Docs to unlock Word documents.
- Step 1: Open your web browser, log into Google Docs, and go to docs.google.com.
- Step 2: Click “Open File” and upload the Word document.
- Step 3: Once the installation is complete, you can download the documents without needing a password.
Method 4: Save the Word document as a new file.
This method is useful when you forget your password and the file is in read-only mode.
- Step 1: Click the “Read Only” button in the pop-up window.
- Step 2: Save the file as a new document using a different name. The new file will not be password protected and can be edited.
Part 4: Removing the password from a Word document that is completely locked without knowing the password.
If you don’t know the password, you can try these methods to unlock the locked Word document:
- Method 1: Use specialized software such as Passfab for Word or Passper Word Password Recovery to remove encryption and recover the password.
- Method 2: Change the name of the password-protected Word file by changing the file extension from .docx to .zip. Open the renamed zip file and delete the settings.xml file. Finally, change the file extension back to .docx to remove the password protection.
- Method 3: Use VBA code to remove document protection. This method is only applicable to .doc files and requires writing VBA code.
- Method 4: Use online tools specifically designed to remove passwords from Word documents. Upload the file to the tool’s website, and then it will decode the file and remove the password for you.
Conclusion
Overall, Word includes multiple ways to remove passwords from documents. However, ethics and law must be followed. Please do not view the document if you do not know the password or own it to avoid legal complications. This must be considered periodically. Lastly, if you want to recover unsaved files, try WinfrGUI, a free word recovery software.
