If you’ve received a Microsoft Word document that’s password protected and you don’t know the password, you’re pretty much out of luck. You can try one of the free password cracking apps available online, but you risk exposing your computer to malware or other unwanted software. The non-free options tend to cost loads of money with no guarantee that they’ll actually work.
If it’s just a Word form that has password protection, it’s a totally different story. These steps will show you how to easily make the form editable, even if you don’t have the password.
Create a new, blank document in Microsoft Word by clicking the Office Orb (top left of screen) and New.
Make sure you know where the file containing the form is located. Then, click the Insert tab, then Object, and select Text from File.
Browse to the password protected form and choose it. This will import most of the file, except for headers and footers in some cases, and you can impress your coworkers with how quickly you hacked into a password protected form without the password.
If you really need other parts of the file (such as a graphic in the header), you could use the Windows Snipping Tool to grab whatever else you require.
Note: I’ve heard that this procedure works in Word 2007, 2010 and 2013. My graphics are from 2007, so your options in different versions might look slightly different. If you have something to add, please comment below.