Password

[Brian]

Hi,

Is it possible to by-pass a word document that is password
protected. i have forgotten the password i used and now
need the protected information urgently..

Any advice ?

 

[Graham Mayor]

The only way to access a Word document that is password protected against
opening is to apply the password. There is no 'back door' method and the
encryption used is quite effective.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Unfortunately, this will not be true of documents created with recent
versions of Word. If they're just protected for forms, you can remove the
protection by inserting the document into a fresh one. But when you protect
a document with a "Password to open," the entire file is encrypted using the
password as the key, so it will just be gibberish if opened in a text
editor.

 

[Graham Mayor]

I would have agreed with you, but I thought I would try it anyway - and
there is a lot of gibberish in the file, but in the file I examined (which
worryingly contains a list of some of my passwords) the text was clearly
readable at the end of the file - and this *is* a recent Word version. Looks
like I will have to find another way to protect my passwords - quickly


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Was this file protected with a "Password to open" and saved in Word
2002/2003 format? The latter is not a given, BTW. I've opened, modified, and
saved files for years before discovering they were still being saved in Word
2.0 or 6.0 format!

 

[Graham Mayor]

Password to open - six digits.
Document created and saved in Word 2003 format - and I can still read the
file content

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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