If you find yourself with a Microsoft Word document that is password protected and you don't know the password, there is a work around to remove the protection, and allow you to edit the document again.

First open the document, and save it as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file. Close the file and then reopen it again in word. Select Tools -> Unprotect Document, and now the password is no longer required. Finally save the file as a word document again.