How to Remove a Password from a Word Document

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An in-depth guide to unlock a Microsoft Word file
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The ability to password protect an MS Word document is a very useful feature. It helps to keep your documents private and manage shared access with several authorized users. However, if you lose the password, you will be left with a document you can’t open or edit at all. Learn more about what to do if you forget or don't have access to the original password for documents in MS Word, as well as the steps for removing the password.

Unlocking a Word Document

Remove the password in File/Review (Mac) > Info (Windows only) > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password > Delete password > OK . It's difficult to regain access to a locked document without the password, but you can try changing the extension name, editing the settings.xml file, or converting it to RTF .

Section 1 of 5:

Removing a Password from a Word Document on Windows

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  1. 1
    Open the document and enter the password. This method is only useful if you remember the password but want to remove it so anyone can access it.
  2. 2
    Click File and select Info . This will show you more options to edit the document in the panel on the right side of the Word window.
    • If you're using a Mac, click the Review tab instead.
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  3. 3
    Click Protect Document . It's the first option next to an icon of a padlock and key.
    • On Mac, find this in the "Protect" grouping.
  4. 4
    Click Encrypt with Password . A little window pops up with your current password.
    • Under the password field is a warning that losing or forgetting this password means that your Word document is lost and cannot be recovered. This article covers a few options that might help you get back into this document, but a lost or forgotten password usually means the document is unretrievable.
  5. 5
    Delete everything in the text box, and click OK . You want this box to be empty to remove any passwords protecting it. Now anyone can open the document! [1]
    • The box turns yellow when there is a password in place. You'll know there is no password when it's not colored.
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Section 2 of 5:

Removing a Password from a Word Document on Mac

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  1. 1
    Open the document and enter the password. This method is only useful if you remember the password but want to remove it so anyone can access it.
  2. 2
    Click the Review tab. It's in the editing ribbon above the document.
  3. 3
    Click Protect Document . Find this in the "Protect" grouping. Another window will open; look for the "Security" section.
    • Under the password field is a warning that losing or forgetting this password means that your Word document is lost and cannot be recovered. This article goes over a few options that might help you get back into this document, but a lost or forgotten password usually means the document is unretrievable.
  4. 4
    Delete everything in the text box, and click OK . You want this box to be empty to remove any passwords protecting it. Now anyone can open the document! [2]
    • The box turns yellow when there is a password in place. You'll know there is no password when it's not colored.
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Section 3 of 5:

Renaming the File Extension in Windows

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  1. 1
    Rename the file to change its extension. - This is highly unreliable and may not work for you, but it is something you can try. Here's what to do:
    • Open File Explorer and navigate to your .doc or .docx file.
    • Right-click it and select Rename .
    • Delete the .doc or .docx extension and enter .zip .
    • Press Enter after changing the file extension. A confirmation window will appear.
    • Click Yes in the pop-up window to confirm the file name change.
    • If you have a .docx extension, and following this method doesn't work, try again and put the ".zip" extension after the .docx extension so it looks like this: .docx.zip .
  2. 2
    Open the .zip file. You can double-click to open it or right-click it and select Open in new window .
  3. 3
    Double-click the Word folder. You'll see more files, including a file called "settings.xml."
  4. 4
    Delete the settings.xml file. Right-click the file name and select Delete, or click it once and click the trashcan icon in the toolbar. [3]
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Section 4 of 5:

Editing the settings.xml File

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  1. 1
    Rename the file to change its extension. - This is highly unreliable and may not work for you, but it is something you can try. Here's what to do:
    • Open your file manager (Finder for Mac or File Explorer for Windows) and navigate to your .doc or .docx file.
    • Right-click or control-click it and select Rename .
    • Delete the .doc or .docx extension and enter .zip .
    • Press Enter after changing the file extension. A confirmation window will appear.
    • Click Yes in the pop-up window to confirm the file name change.
    • If you have a .docx extension, and following this method doesn't work, try again and put the ".zip" extension after the .docx extension so it looks like this: .docx.zip .
      • This is highly unreliable and may not work for you, but it is something you can try. This helped in the case of a Mac user who was unable to get rid of the password-protected feature that was preventing auto-saves. [4]
  2. 2
    Open the .zip file. You can double-click to open it or right-click it and select Open in new window .
  3. 3
    Double-click the Word folder. You'll see more files, including a file called "settings.xml."
  4. 4
    Drag the file outside the Word folder. For example, drag it to your desktop. This way, you can edit it directly, and it's not protected by the Word folder.
  5. 5
    Open the document and search for enforcement . If you right-click on the XML file, you can choose to open it in Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit for macOS. Press Ctrl + F to quickly find the term "enforcement."
    • You'll see a 1 after "enforcement" in the XML file .
  6. 6
    Change the "1" to a "0," and save the XML file. You can save it to write over the original file.
  7. 7
    Put the file back into the Word folder and rename it to .docx again. You can drag and drop the file back into the Word folder, right-click the overall folder, which is your original Word document, and rename it to have the .docx file extension again.
    • The document will no longer be password protected whenever you try to open it.
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Section 5 of 5:

Converting the Document to RTF

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  1. 1
    Open the document in Word and save it as an RTF file. This only helps as long as you can open the document. To do this, follow these steps:
    • Open the document in Word and go to File > Save as.
    • Change the "File Type" to Rich Text Format (.rtf) and save it.
  2. 2
    Open the .rtf file in Notepad. You can also use any other plain text editor. Do this by right-clicking the file in your file manager and selecting Open with > Notepad .
  3. 3
    Replace passwordhash with nopassword and save it. Press Ctrl + F to pull up the Finder to easily search for "passwordhash". Erase that term and replace it with "nopassword." Press Ctrl + S to save the document.
  4. 4
    Open the document in Word and remove the password. Once you've made the changes in Notepad or the general text editor of your choice, you can re-open it in Word to remove any lingering protections. The password is gone, so you can open it without any issue. [5]
    • To open your document in Word, you have two options:
      • Open Word, go to Open, and select your document.
      • Double-click your document or right-click it and select Open with > Word .
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/protect-a-document-with-a-password-05084cc3-300d-4c1a-8416-38d3e37d6826#id0ebf=windows
      2. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/protect-a-document-with-a-password-05084cc3-300d-4c1a-8416-38d3e37d6826#id0ebf=macos
      3. ↑ https://passper.imyfone.com/word/remove-password-from-word-document/
      4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftWord/comments/1h6phhv/remove_password_on_ms_word/?rdt=32913
      5. ↑ https://passper.imyfone.com/word/remove-password-from-word-document/

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