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    Senior Program Developer
 

Summary
File encryption can protect our Word documents from being spied. If you want to unlock a password-protected word document, what should you do? In this essay, we will put forward some effective methods for you.



Usually, we set a password to protect our Word document from being viewed. Such function has been arranged in Microsoft Word. When you finish editing a document, you can go to File on the top left corner and click Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password. Then, you can enter the password to encrypt the document. Of course, the below screenshot is from Office Word 2010. The steps may be slightly different in the other versions.
how to unlock word document
For such a password-protected Word document, how to unlock?

Part 1: How to Unlock Password-Protected Word Document

Method 1: Delete Password in Password Settings (With Password)

If you’ve known the password, you can easily delete it in Office settings. You can replace the original password with a blank one.

Steps:

① Open Microsoft Word and enter the password.

② Then, click File at the top corner > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.

Note: For Office 2010 users, please go to the Office icon at the top corner > Prepare > Encrypt Document.

how to unlock word document
③ Delete the original password and click [OK].

Method 2: Password Cracker (Without Password)

Since the format of Microsoft Word is open to the public (i.e. the .docx file can be converted to be .zip file along with the file extension change), many password crackers can crack down the Word documents within a few minutes. For example
how to unlock word document with word password
how to unlock word document with passper for word

Method 3: Insert in Blank Page (Without Password)

If you’ve forgotten the password, you can try to create a blank document and then insert the password-protected document into this blank page.

Steps:

① Go to the Office icon at the top left corner > New. Then, create a blank document. Or, press the hot key [Ctrl + N] to do so.

create a blank doucment page in microsoft word
② On the menu column, click [Insert] > [Object]. Select [Text from File].
click object and select text from file
③ In the pop-up window, find out the encrypted word document and press [Insert]. Soon, this file will be displayed and be allowed to edit.
select the target file and confirm to insert it into word
From the above methods, we can see that the password can be cracked easily even though Microsoft Word has offered password protection. This function is not safe at all. If you want to protect your document well, we suggest you try Renee File Protector

Part 2: Safer Tool for File Encryption -- Renee File Protector

Renee File Protector - Overall Protection to Your Data

Easy to use Few clicks for whole folder encryption process.

Overall protection Users can hide, lock or get other protection to files in local disk or USB disk.

High Security Classified encryption method prevents data from leakage.

Compression transfer Support to compress and encrypt any files to secure the file transfer security.

Advanced self protection Provide self

Easy to use Few clicks for whole folder encryption process.

Overall protection Users can hide, lock or get other protection to files in local disk or USB disk.

High Security Classified encryption method prevents data from leakage.

Free TrialFree Trial 800 users have downloaded and protect data!
Renee File Protector, professional software for file encryption, has high security and supports to encrypt files at any format. Besides, it can hide even disable the other people to modify and read the target files, providing users with the all-round file protection plan. Next, we will introduce how to lock word document with Renee File Protector:

① Install and open Renee File Protector. If you are a new user, please set a password for it.

set master password for renee file protector
② At the left pane, click [Encrypt File] > [Add Files] and then select the target file.
use renee file protector to encrypt file
③ Select [Encrypt to gfl] or [Encrypt to exe].

If you encrypt the file to gfl, you should decrypt it with Renee File Protector; if it is encrypted to exe, you can directly enter the password to open it.

use renee file protector to encrypt to gfl or exe password protected zip file
④ After that, set a password for the document in the pop-up window and click [OK] to confirm.
add a password to lock a gfl file
How to unlock the Word document with password:

If you don’t need to encrypt the word document, please double-click at it and enter the password to decrypt. Once the file is unlocked, it will be read without any password.

double click at the file and unlock the file