(Microsoft) Word File Edit Bypass (WFEB) 1.0

A simple utility to remove edit protection from Microsoft Word documents (.docx).

What This Tool Does

• Removes document edit protection by modifying the settings.xml file inside the Word document
• Disables tracking revisions to prevent Word from tracking edits (Removes manual accepts)
• Creates backups of original files before modification
• Works with .docx files (modern Word format)

What This Tool Does NOT Do

• Does NOT remove password encryption - if entire file is encrypted with a password, you still need the password to open it
• Does NOT change document content - all text, formatting, and other content remains intact

How It Works

The tool:

1. Creates a temporary directory
2. Extracts the .docx file (which is a ZIP archive)
3. Locates and modifies the settings.xml file to disable document protection and track changes
4. Carefully repackages the document to preserve Word format compatibility
5. Preserves a backup of the original file with .bak extension

Usage

python wfeb.py document.docx

Or if installed as a package:

wfeb document.docx

Installation

git clone https://github.com/KRWCLASSIC/wfeb.git
cd wfeb
pip install -e .

Might be broken, I had too much issues with it, sorry.

Technical Details

When a Word document is protected for editing, it has specific settings in the settings.xml file:

• The documentProtection element with enforcement="1" indicates protection is enabled
• The script changes this to enforcement="0" and edit="edit" to disable protection
• The script also removes the trackRevisions element to prevent Word from telling user to manually accept changes

Requirements

• Python 3.6 or higher