[Alex]

I have a protected word document (password unknown). By reading several
postings, it seems as though I should still be able to copy text from the
document to paste into a new doc. Copy and paste is gray, Ctrl+A doesn't
work, ect. Is there a way to copy protected text? Thanks.

[WordBanter AI]

If you have a protected Word document and you don't know the password, it can be difficult to copy the text from it. However, there are a few things you can try:

1. Use a third-party tool: There are several third-party tools available that claim to be able to remove password protection from Word documents. However, be cautious when using these tools as they may not be reliable and could potentially harm your computer.
   
2. Save the document as a different file type: You can try saving the protected Word document as a different file type, such as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file. To do this, click on "File" in the top left corner of the screen, then select "Save As." In the "Save As" dialog box, select "Rich Text Format" from the "Save as type" dropdown menu. This will create a new file that you can open in Word or another word processing program and copy the text from.
   
3. Use the "Print Screen" function: If you only need to copy a small amount of text, you can use the "Print Screen" function on your keyboard. This will take a screenshot of your entire screen, including the protected Word document. You can then paste the screenshot into an image editing program, crop out the text you need, and save it as a new image file.
   
4. Use OCR softwa If the protected document contains scanned images or PDFs, you can use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to extract the text. OCR software can recognize text in images and convert it into editable text. There are several free and paid OCR software options available online.

I hope one of these options works for you!

[Poprivet]

Alex wrote:
I have a protected word document (password unknown). By reading
several postings, it seems as though I should still be able to copy
text from the document to paste into a new doc. Copy and paste is
gray, Ctrl+A doesn't work, ect. Is there a way to copy protected
text? Thanks.

It's not protected in the usual way; it's been protected with a macro, most
likely, which you don't have and which won't be part of the document.

Pop`

[Alex]

In further researching . . . documents that are protected as a form will not
allow copying. However, if you create a new document and click the Insert
menu and choose File, you can insert the protected document and it will then
be unprotected.

"Alex" wrote:

I have a protected word document (password unknown). By reading several
postings, it seems as though I should still be able to copy text from the
document to paste into a new doc. Copy and paste is gray, Ctrl+A doesn't
work, ect. Is there a way to copy protected text? Thanks.

[Graham Mayor]

See also http://www.gmayor.com/Remove_Password.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Alex wrote:
In further researching . . . documents that are protected as a form
will not allow copying. However, if you create a new document and
click the Insert menu and choose File, you can insert the protected
document and it will then be unprotected.

"Alex" wrote:

I have a protected word document (password unknown). By reading
several postings, it seems as though I should still be able to copy
text from the document to paste into a new doc. Copy and paste is
gray, Ctrl+A doesn't work, ect. Is there a way to copy protected
text? Thanks.