Unprotect a Microsoft Word Document
To remove the password preventing you from unlocking a protected MS-Word file, follow the steps below (adapted from Dave Taylor)
First, open the document and do a "Save As..." specifying Rich Text Format (RTF). It'll end up being called something.rtf.
Press [Alt]+[Shift]+[F11] to open Microsoft's Script-Editor.
Search for "Password" and you will find something like this:
<w:UnprotectPassword>8431AFZ3</w:UnprotectPassword>
To remove the protection, just delete that line, then save.
Finally, do another "Save As..." specifying "Word Document (*.doc)."