How to Recover a Password in a Word Document
- 1). Download a Microsoft Word password recovery program to your computer; there are several free versions available online. Start the setup and install it to your computer.
- 2). Launch the Word Password recovery software. Word password will show up on your welcome window. Click the "Next" button. This will take you through each tab.
- 3). Click "Select a File" on the second tab. Browse your computer for the locked Word document. Click on the file and select "Open." Choose the "Next" button.
- 4). Choose the recovery mode you would like to use. The next two tabs contain two options: "Dictionary Recovery" and "Brute Force Memory." It's best to start with the Dictionary Recovery option, as it is usually faster, but depends on what type of password is set for the document.
- 5). Click "Select Dictionary." Click on the dictionary that is preset and installed with the program. Select "Open." Check all of the boxes at the bottom of the application. This will expand your results to include lower-case words, plurals, capitalized words and upper-case words.
- 6). Select the "Go" button. This appears button appears to the right once the dictionary is loaded into the program. The dictionary search will start. Any results will be shown when the search is complete. If the search is not successful, try the brute-force attack.
- 7). Click "Next" at the bottom of the Dictionary Recovery tab. This will take you to the fourth tab, the "Brute Force Memory" search.
- 8). Select your password preference in the "Characters" drop-down box. There are five options to choose from, based on what characters your password may consist of. The more extensive the characters, the longer the search will take.
- 9). Choose the length of the password in the two drop-down boxes at the bottom. You will most likely set the first box at "1," because that is the minimum length of a password. The second box can be set up to a length of "8," depending on your preference.
- 10
Click on the "Go" button to the right of the box. This will start the brute-force search. This may take quite a bit of time. Any results will be displayed in a box when the search is complete.
Source...