How to unprotect/unlock Microsoft Word documents
1) With the document open press Alt+Shift+F11. This should launch the VB script editor in Word;
2) Press Ctrl+f, and run a find for the word “password”. This should highlight something like this “<UnprotectPassword>32943208</w:UnprotectPassword>”;
3) Delete the letters and numbers between the tags (in the above example this would be the 32943208);
4) Save the document in the script editor and close the window. You should now be back in your Word document;
5) From the “Tools” pulldown menu, select “Unprotect.” Your document should now be unprotected.