A Jeffery
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Why has my mac stopped recognising a word document password?

I have a mac book pro (2010) currently running 10.7.5.  I have office for Mac 2008.  For over a year I have been exchanging password protected word documents via email.  I have used the same password for some time.  In the past couple of days when I try to open the documents email to me, I get a message saying the password is incorrect.  I know that is not the case as I can open them using the password from my phone.  I need to access these documents on my lap top for editing and I can't work out what the problem would be?  Previous password protected documents saved on my computer open with the password as normal but newly emailed reports in the last few days simply won't open.

 

Any thoughts gratefully received.  Is this some sort of compatibility problem?  Neither sender or I have made any changes to our software in the last couple of days other than myself updating my Adobe but I can't see how that would make a difference.

Posted on Nov 11, 2014 10:21 AM

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A Jeffery

Q: Why has my mac stopped recognising a word document password?

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  • by Templeton Peck,

    Templeton Peck Templeton Peck Nov 11, 2014 1:09 PM in response to A Jeffery
    Level 9 (62,070 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 1:09 PM in response to A Jeffery

    Ask on the Microsoft Mac forums since it's their software you're having problems with

     

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

  • by FishingAddict,

    FishingAddict FishingAddict Nov 11, 2014 1:21 PM in response to A Jeffery
    Level 4 (1,586 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 11, 2014 1:21 PM in response to A Jeffery

    Make sure that you are not having a simple keyboard issue on your Mac.  Try opening TextEdit or Word and typing the password in the clear into a document so that you can see what is being typed.  It's possible that you have a bad key on your keyboard and being able see what you are typing will allow you to determine which key it is.

     

    You may already know this but just be aware that using a password on Word files is useless unless they are saved in the newer format (.docx).  Documents of the old type (.doc) have laughable password security but the new (.docx) formats are actually strongly encrypted.

  • by A Jeffery,

    A Jeffery A Jeffery Nov 11, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Templeton Peck
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Templeton Peck

    Many thanks, I'll give that a try.

  • by A Jeffery,

    A Jeffery A Jeffery Nov 11, 2014 1:28 PM in response to FishingAddict
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 1:28 PM in response to FishingAddict

    Thanks Tim.  It doesn't seem to be a keyboard issue and I have subsequently found that they don't open on my iMac either.  I'm starting to think that my copy of office for mac is too out of date and it is probably a compatibility issue between the sender's version of word and mine.  Thanks for the heads up re the level of security.  That was not something I was aware of!

  • by FishingAddict,

    FishingAddict FishingAddict Nov 11, 2014 7:41 PM in response to A Jeffery
    Level 4 (1,586 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 11, 2014 7:41 PM in response to A Jeffery

    Just a thought Jeffery, you might want to check that you and your colleague are using the same keyboard layout.  It's possible (but unlikely if only typical ASCII characters are used) that a password entered by one person is not the same as that typed by the other.

     

    Good luck.

  • by flash7gordon,

    flash7gordon flash7gordon Feb 26, 2016 1:42 PM in response to A Jeffery
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 26, 2016 1:42 PM in response to A Jeffery

    I would like to say that I think this does have something to do with Mac or the Mac version of word.   I don't have quite your problem but my problem is the document just opens on all Mac devices (iPhone 6, iPad air, and a iMac) and when you open the same document on a Windows machine it asks for a password like it should.  My Mac version is old too, word 2011 version 14.6.   I save this file both mac and windows and I think that might be the problem.  Kind of a disturbing development.