Microsoft Office offers different levels of security that can be implemented to your word file. It helps you control whether someone can edit or even open your document. This protection can be applied by locking your Word documents with an encrypted password or other types of protections based on your needs. You should be careful when implementing the password. However, if you have lost or forgotten the password, there are various methods you can unlock password-protected word document.
Method 1: Unlock Password Protected Word Document with VBA Code
You can unlock password-protected word document using VBA code. This method works on files having extension .doc or .docx. Their password should not be more than three characters. Many times people have tried to use this method on Word files having more than three characters, but it doesn’t work. You can try this method using the following steps:
Step 1. Open a new MS word document file.
Step 2. Press F11 and Alt key at the same time using your keyboard.
Step 3. Go click on “Insert” and then click “Module.”
Step 4. Type the following VBA codes in the picture below.
Step 5. After typing the VBA codes, Press F5 to run them.
Step 6. Next, find the password-protected word document you want to unlock and click Open.
Step 7. The password will be visible in a small window.
If the window does not respond or the password is not shown, it means the password has more than three letters. In such cases, you can check our next method to unlock your Word document.
Method 2. Unlock Password Protected Word Document with iSunshare Word Password Genius
iSunshare Word Password Genius is a powerful Word password recovery tool. There are four types of recovery options present in this software, i.e., Mask, Normal, Dictionary, and Smart. Whether you are a rookie or expert, you can easily use this software without a hitch. If you are still curious about how you can use this software to unlock password-protected word document, we got you covered.
Get iSunshare Word Password Genius
Just follow the following steps:
Step 1. First of all, upload the password-protected Word file.
Step 2. Next, you have selected the recovery type.
Step 3. Finally, click Start and let the software do its work.
Step 4. iSunshare will use its smart algorithm to find the correct password depending on its setting. It may take a few minutes.
You can read about the recovery options offered by iSunshare Word Password Genius as follows.
- Normal Password Recovery: For a short password, select Normal recovery to test all possible character combinations in a certain range. The parameters used by Normal recovery are Range and length. You can easily set the minimum and maximum length of the password.
- Mask Password Recovery: This method used for finding the password whose sequence or words are partially known by the user. You can set this parameter by writing the characters you do know and the one you don’t know with “?”.
- Dictionary Password Recovery: The Dictionary Data Recovery parameter can help you unlock a password-protected word document using a dictionary file. There are two types of dictionary files present in the program; the first one is already present in the recovery program, while the second can be uploaded by the user. The number of passwords present in the dictionary greatly influence the speed of password recovery.
- Smart Password Recovery: iSunshare Word Password Genius uses Smart Recovery algorithm to classify the possibility of the password. These classes are divided into three classes A, B, and C. Class A has a high chance of being the password, while Class B and C have a lower chance. The smart algorithm tries to categorize the password possibility and makes its own dictionary. It will try to find the password in the dictionary first and then uses other methods if it fails.
Smart password recovery is comparatively faster in opening a password protected word document. While Normal password recovery may take days to unlock a Word document, the smart method does this task in a few hours.
Method 3. Unlock Password Protected Word Document Online
If all the previous methods fail, try using an online tool to unlock password-protected word document. There are hundreds of online programs that can help open password protected word documents. However, these programs may, take months or even years if the password length is large or has special characters. These online Word password recovery sites do not guarantee fast password recovery and may waste your money and time. However, a fraction of these expensive password sites and software’s “password-online.com” can easily help you find the password of your encrypted Word files.
This online site uses more than three trillion possible combinations for finding the password. The process may take a few seconds to a few days to find the most popular passwords online. Simply upload the password-protected word file and let the servers do their magic. The site “password-online.com” only charges 10 euros to unprotect word document without password.
The steps are as follows:
Step 1. Go to “password-online.com”.
Step 2. Click on MS Word password recovery.
Step 3. Upload the password protected word file and confirm your Email address.
Step 4. After a few minutes to hours, the file will be decrypted.
Step 5. After the file decryption, in most cases, you will receive a picture proof. It will show that the Word file has been decrypted.
Step 6. You can acquire the decrypted Word file after payment.
Conclusion
By setting a password to your MS Word file, you can protect it from outside editing or access. Microsoft recommends writing that password on a piece of paper in case you forget. We have already described three methods to unlock Word files. However, you may find some of them a bit complicated and limited as the first method can only be used on password having three digits, and the last method is not safe.
The best method to unlock an encrypted word document depends on you. According to our research, we recommend the iSunshare Word Password Genius. You must be wondering why we consider recommending this option to unlock a password protected word document. The reasons are as follows.
- It is simple to use and has an unlimited word length.
- It easily performs safe password recovery without tempering the word file.
- Easily decrypts multiple and complex locks.
- It is also compatible with all the Microsoft word versions.
As you can observe, iSunshare does only one thing and perfectly implements it. It is a great tool to have in your software depository for unexpected hitches. The company offers a free version also, so why not give it a try.
