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I have forgotten my password for a Word document that I created. Can you help?

Password Protecting Word Documents

Microsoft Word offers two terrific ways to protect your documents from unapproved edits or prying eyes, the Protect Documents feature and the Encrypt Document feature. Using Protect Documents, you can restrict editing to specific users or limit the types of editing that other users can apply. Encrypting the document and applying a password to it makes the document un-openable unless the appropriate password is entered.

The Problem with Password Protected Documents

In either case, forgetting the password leads to major hassles as you’ve just discovered. Without the password, you cannot open your encrypted document or make changes to your protected one. You are at the mercy of your memory and with so many password requirements in our lives, it’s understandable that a few are forgotten along the way.

In addition to forgetting personal passwords to Word documents that you created, many business owners have a different problem: password protected documents created by employees. What happens when an employee leaves the company or dies unexpectedly? All of those password-protected documents belong to the employer, yet the passwords have left with the former employee.

How to Open Password Protected Word Documents

Fortunately, the computer software industry has come up with a solution: Office Password Recovery Software. This product recovers passwords from any Microsoft Office application including Word, Excel, and Access. Download the free scanner and see if the product detects your Bio Data Word document file. The download takes just seconds to download and install using a broadband connection. Once installed, either let the Office Password Recovery tool search your documents or manually add your encrypted documents.

As a trial version, limitations do apply. For example, all passwords are recovered, but only those of three characters or less are viewable. In order to view the full passwords, you will need to purchase the full featured product. If you suspect the password is a short, three characters or less password, then the free scan will help. However, if it is longer, you will need to pay for the software. Depending on how valuable the Bio Data file is to you, the product may be worth the price.   

What is Quicktime?

Quicktime offers cutting edge multimedia capability for a variety of digital media needs. It is used as a means to deliver media over cell phones, computers, etc. Quite a few websites suggest that their users download QuickTime for the ultimate experience with data relayed over the Internet. It is offered as a free player for videos and movie trailers; and users can also upgrade to Quicktime Pro, which provides more advanced uses for this application.

Installing QuickTime: Windows Users

In order to install QuickTime, you simply need to visit the website for this application. Once you arrive at the proper page, you select the version of QuickTime that you would like to download taking care to select the one that has been designed according to your needs. This download is free and easy to install.

You should notice that the download version listed at the top of the left-hand corner includes iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows XP. The one beneath this version does not include iTunes capability. Simply tick off or mark the version of QuickTime 7.6 that you want to download. Then, click on the download button beneath that.

Once you click “download,” your browser will download the installer for the application.

The download starts automatically. To access the latest version of QuickTime compatible with the Windows operating system, visit this link: Quicktime Download. If you decide later on that you like QuickTime and would like to upgrade to QuickTime Pro, you can easily do so.

You can also choose to sign up for a weekly subscription to “New Music Tuesday” or to receive update “Apple News,” software updates and the latest in news related to technology, products, and services. If you elect to do so, you simply fill in your email address.

Installing QuickTime: Mac Users

If you are a Mac user, you need to visit the following link: Apple Quicktime Player in order to download a compatible version of QuickTime 7.6 for your computer. On this page, the download tab is located to the right-hand side of the page. This download is free and easy to complete. For the best results, always close all other applications when downloading software of any kind.

Am trying to install Adobe CS4 software - on a brand new computer, but keep coming up with message saying that it cannot go any further until I close the Adobe Updater. Checked task manager and nothing is open. Aargh, please help if you can.

As you know, this software is not cheap, so I can imagine how frustrating this problem must be - and on a new computer too. There are a few things you can do before spending time on the phone with Adobe trying to work this problem out. Even though this is a new computer, once you have the partially-loaded CS4 software removed, you should be sure to back up the system and set a restore point so that if anything happens, you can easily get your system back to a workable point.

Despite praise for the program, there are many cases of users having trouble with the installation. The Adobe Updater is something that Adobe installs with many of its products and will automatically check for updates for Adobe products. It is usually installed in another folder on your computer.

Disable Adobe Updater

If you don’t mind looking for updates yourself, you can try to disable the Updater and see if it will let you continue with the installation. This is providing that you can find the Updater on your system. Go to Program Files and then Common Files. Find Adobe and the Updater on your hard drive. Find the box for “Automatically check for Adobe updates” and uncheck it. Close all of the windows and see if you can continue with the installer.

Clean Script

If that doesn’t work, running the Adobe CS4 Clean Script and then doing a clean install is probably your best bet. This program should work as it is specifically made for problems when installing CS4. It should not interfere with CS3 products you have installed on your computer, although it will give you the option to remove them if you wish.

First, uninstall as much of the program as you can using Add/Remove programs. Now go to the webpage for Adobe CS4 Clean Script and download the file that is on the bottom of the web page, depending on your operating system. You will then unzip the file that downloaded - it includes a Read Me file with detailed instructions for using the program. Once the script has run, you will close your system and restart. Now you can try a new reinstall from your CD.

If you are still having trouble with the installation of your Adobe CS4, I would contact Adobe customer service as your next step. This is a valuable program and you want to make sure you get your money’s worth.

I’m using Works 8 and find it impossible to type text onto a half-fold card so that it will print out correctly. Any suggestions?

Microsoft Works 8 comes with over 40 templates for greeting cards loaded onto it. You can make cards for holidays, birthdays and even customize your designs using blank templates. Without knowing exactly what the problem is for you, I’m going to walk you through the process and see if that helps solve the issue.

Works Card Templates

In order to make cards in Microsoft Works, you need to open the task launcher. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Start and choose All Programs.
2. Find Microsoft Works and put the cursor over the program.
3. Find Task Launcher in the menu that expands. You will see a Templates button at the top of the Task Launcher.
4. Click on the Templates button and you will see a list of options to the left.
5. Click Cards and Crafts which will open the cards on the right side of the window.
6. Click on the card category you want and you will see the designs that are available for that category.
7. You can see a larger version of the design by clicking on the thumbnail pictures.
8. Click Use This Style when you’ve found the card design you want to use.
9. You will see the card in a new window. Now you can add text and customize your card.
10. When you have the card the way you want it, go to File and then Print to print it out on either paper or card stock that you have loaded in your printer.

If you don’t like the designs that come preloaded onto your computer, you can go to the web and find additional Microsoft Works templates that have updated cards and designs for every holiday.

Make Your Own

Many of the greeting card templates come as quarter-fold cards. If you want a card on a larger piece of paper, you can always make your own with a little trial and error. First, go to File and then Page Setup and change the paper orientation from Portrait to Landscape. Find clip art online or use your own art for the design and cut and paste it onto the right hand side of the paper. Next, scroll down until you have a second page. On the right hand side of that page, write the text that you want to appear inside your card. Now, print the first page only. You will get a piece of paper with the art on the right hand side. Flip the paper over and insert it back into the printer and print the second page only. This should position your text on the right hand, inside of the card. If you flipped it over and inserted it in the printer the wrong way, note the orientation and try again until you get the picture and text where you want them. Fold in half and enjoy!

In Microsoft Word I copy and paste a lot. My margins are set at .375. A lot of stuff I copy is only 2.5″ wide. Can I reformat to fill up the page margin to margin instead of stopping halfway and starting a new line?

Copying and Pasting Text in Word

Microsoft Word has a few different options for how it handles copied text. Most Word users know about using “Control + C” to copy text and “Control + V” to paste it. However, you can also use the Paste Special command (File > Edit > Paste Special in Word 2003 or click the Paste clipboard icon in the Home tab of Word 2007 and choose Paste Special) to choose how you want the text to be pasted into the document.

For example, if you are copying and pasting text from a Web site, not only are you copying the text, but also any underlying HTML code which could be affecting the margins. Instead, try using the Paste Special command and choose “unformatted text.”

Adjusting Word Options

You can also adjust how Word handles the formatting of pasted text by going into Word Options and clicking on the Advanced option. Here, you’ll find options for keeping the source formatting or matching the destination document’s formatting for:

• Pasting within the same document
• Pasting between documents
• Pasting between documents with style conflicts
• Pasting from other programs

Using Word’s Ruler

You can also adjust the way text displays on the page using the ruler across the top of the page. The ruler takes some getting used to. However, if you hover your mouse over the space that represents the margin (usually where the color changes from white to blue) and wait until your cursor turns into a double sided arrow, you can drag the margin to the desired width.

Source Formatting

It is also possible that the source text has hard breaks within the text in which case, these breaks have been created by pressing the enter key. For example, the original writer may have used the enter key to purposely break up the text, such as when typing a poem:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I want the text in four lines

Rather than one or two

You can use Find and Replace to remove the paragraph breaks made by pressing the enter key. First, if you want to see the hard breaks, press the button on your Word toolbar that looks like this: ¶ (similar to a backwards P). In order to remove all of these instances of paragraph breaks, click the Control + F key combination and enter ^p in the Find What box. Now, click on the Replace tab and put an empty space in the Replace box and then click Replace or Replace All. You may want to select paragraphs at a time so that you don’t end up with one huge block of text with no paragraphs.

This process isn’t perfect. In our poetry example, you’ll notice problems with capitalization and punctuation as shown below:

Roses are red Violets are blue I want the text in four lines Rather than one or two

Microsoft MVP has more tips on the MVP FAQ page.

I need help with Microsoft Word. Do you know where I can get telephone support? I have a book typed in Word and I need to put a ~ after every period. Is there any way to populate this without typing in everyone?

Help Using Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a complex word processor with tons of useful features - if you know how to use them. In this case, it’s not necessary to try to call Microsoft for help as you have found Filetonic.com and we’re always eager to do our best to lend a helping hand. I’m not sure why an editor would want a “~” mark after every period and I can see how tedious that would be to do manually, even in a relatively short document - let alone a book. However, we can accommodate this request fairly easily using Microsoft’s Find and Replace feature.

Using Word’s Find and Replace Feature

The Find and Replace feature is most often used to find certain words and replace them with new words. For example, let’s say that you wrote a book and your main character was named “Ralph.” Later, you decide that you’d rather Ralph have a different name, such as Benny. Rather than going through and replacing each instance of “Ralph” with “Benny” (and possibly missing a few), you can use the Find and Replace feature to find “Ralph” and replace it with “Benny.”

Word can also search your document for every single period (.) and replace each one with a tilde (~) mark. To do this, hit the Control key plus the ‘F’ key. I remember this by thinking ‘F’ for “Find.” A box appears. Enter a period mark in the box that says “Find what” and then click the “Replace” tab. Now, enter a tilde mark in the box that says “Replace with.” When you’re ready, click either the Replace button or the Replace All button. You can do it one period at a time by clicking the Replace button followed by Find Next, but that’s going to be quite tedious.

Problems with Find and Replace

Before you click on Replace All, keep in mind that this will replace all periods, not just the ones that end a sentence. For example, if your text contains a Web site address such as Filetonic.com, the period will be replaced and you’ll end up with “Filetonic~com.” You can avoid problems like this by including a space after the both punctuation marks when you enter them in the Find and Replace dialog boxes. That way, when Word finds a period followed by a blank space, it will replace the period and the blank space with a tilde and a blank space. When Word finds a period followed by a letter, it will ignore it.

Exploring Word

I hope this little trick helps make your job easier. Word is a powerful tool with tons of timesavers. Explore Word’s built-in Help files or check out Microsoft Office Online for tutorials and tips. Microsoft even offers a free self-paced training course covering Word 2007.