Free Word Password Recovery
"Word password" means three completely different things. Two of them are removable for free in seconds. One requires real recovery work. Identify which one you have before spending any money.
Identify what "Word password" you actually have
1. Editing restriction / "Password to Modify" — FREE, instant fix
The document opens. You can read everything. Word just blocks edits. This is NOT encryption — it's an XML tag inside the .docx file saying "don't let people type." The fix: rename document.docx to document.zip, open it, navigate to word/settings.xml, find the <w:documentProtection> element, delete the entire element including its attributes, save, rename back to .docx. Done. 30 seconds. Completely free.
If the XML path sounds intimidating: LibreOffice Writer ignores Word's editing restriction entirely. Open the .docx in LibreOffice (free download), edit freely, save. That's the even easier free fix.
2. File-open password on .doc (Word 97-2003) — Always recoverable
Old .doc files use 40-bit RC4 encryption. The key space is only 2^40 ≈ 1.1 trillion — small enough for modern GPUs to search exhaustively. Recovery doesn't depend on what the password was. Every .doc file-open password is recoverable regardless of password complexity. Turnaround on a GPU cluster: 2-6 hours.
3. File-open password on .docx (Word 2007+) — Depends on password
Modern .docx files use AES-128 or AES-256. The encryption itself is cryptographically sound — you can't break the cipher. Recovery works by guessing passwords and testing each guess. If your password is a dictionary word, a name, a date, or a short pattern, free dictionary checks can find it. If it's a random string over 10 characters, recovery is infeasible regardless of budget.
Free recovery methods that actually work
XML editing (editing restrictions)
Works for: editing restrictions, formatting restrictions, track changes locks. Rename .docx → .zip, edit the XML, rename back. Detailed step-by-step above. LibreOffice Writer is the even simpler alternative — it ignores editing restrictions entirely.
Try every password you've ever used
Most people reuse passwords. Check your password manager, browser saved passwords (chrome://settings/passwords, edge://settings/passwords), old emails where you might have sent the password, sticky notes, and similar documents from the same time period. This sounds obvious but resolves a surprising percentage of cases.
Free online dictionary check
Our free check tests common passwords, names, dates, keyboard patterns, and English/Ukrainian/Russian dictionaries against your file. No payment unless the password is actually recovered. Catches weak and predictable passwords in minutes.
Hashcat on your own GPU (DIY)
If you have a gaming GPU (RTX 3060 or better), you can run hashcat yourself. Extract the hash with office2john.py: python3 office2john.py locked.docx > hash.txt. Then attack: hashcat -m 9600 -a 0 hash.txt rockyou.txt -r rules/best64.rule. Word 2013+ uses mode 9600; Word 2010 uses 9500; Word 2007 uses 9400. Free and unlimited — but you need the hardware and the time.
When free is not enough
Free methods catch: editing restrictions (always), .doc file-open passwords (always, via 40-bit key recovery), and weak .docx passwords (dictionary words, names, dates, short patterns). They don't catch modern .docx files with passwords that are long, random, or not in public wordlists.
The honest test
Run the free check. If it finds the password in the first 20 minutes, you're done — no cost. If it doesn't, you'll see exactly how many candidates were tested and what categories were covered. You can then decide whether to provide hints (partial password memory cuts the search space by 99%) or accept that the password was strong enough to survive.