Dave, I just got another read-only password-protected Word file from my boss and I’m hoping there’s a way to sidestep the password because he gets really mad every time I ask him to unlock the file and/or send me an unprotected version. I dunno if this is legal, though. Can you even answer this for me? Okay, everyone who thinks this is illegal, click and you can go shopping instead. ? Good, we’ve gotten rid of those sticklers and can talk about the relatively simple technique that you can use to sidestep the password protection on a Word file.
Is it illegal? I don’t think so, since it’s a document that your boss sent you. Here’s how you crack the password protected Microsoft Word file: First, open the document and do a “Save As” specifying Rich Text Format (RTF). It’ll end up being called something.rtf. Now open the RTF file by double-clicking on it.
![How To Password-protect A Ms Word Document For The Mac How To Password-protect A Ms Word Document For The Mac](http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/add-password-protection-to-pdf.jpg)
It should look identical to the original Word file. Final step: save the RTF file with a new name as a Microsoft Word format document. That’s all there is to it. You’ve sidestepped the read-only lock on the file your boss sent you and are good to go. In terms of actually breaking the password on a file that has it set as the “open file” password, that’s beyond the scope of what I’ll write about here. But I will say that there are some Google searches that can probably help you track down plenty of tips on doing just that. S Word has used 128-bit AES encryption since Office 2007 so no, there’s no easy way to unlock it.
Here is how to password protect a document in Word 2013 – Open the document in Word 2013. Click File at the top-left corner of the window. Click the Info tab at the left side of the window, click Protect Document, then click Encrypt with Password. Enter the password that you want to use. Re-enter the password to confirm it. Click the Save.
If think your password is simple enough or vunerable to a dictionary attack, you could try one of the various password cracking apps available (caveat downloader). It’s trivial to remove the Edit protection from Word documents by editing ‘settings.xml’ within the compressed.docx file as discussed in other answers here. However, as you have applied ‘Encrypt with Password’ to require a password to open the document, that method won’t be available. You probably should look into a paid tool if getting this document open is important. How about this one: If you do find a free one, please do share with us. Here is what happened to me, I was using two administrator accounts with two different passwords and once a friend of mine pluged in his flash and released a virus to my computer then after the computer was restarted it couldn’t display the desktop, then I tried to fix it by coping the system32 from the OS cd. Then it worked but unbelivabely the password of the first account opened the second account but the first account couldn’t be opened by either of the passwords, unfortunately the account I couldn’t open was the one I have lots of documents I have been working on for the past six (6) years, then I installed windows again leaving the files undeleted then i found them all but I couldn’t open them even in read only.
Please Any Idea What I should do to access my documents would be a lot apperciated. I prepared a document in case of divorce with my husband. I changed regularly the password to open and modify it (it is the same password).
But now I can not open anymore because I lost the last one. If I give you that file, could you open it for me? I tried to change the extension.rtf and no use. Every crackers I found on the web give only a demo version. I bought one very expensive and limited times to use (all the credit is already used and I do not want to pay 30 euros more).
This document is important for me! Please help me! Thanks so much.