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Multiple Document Recovery

IMPORTANT NOTE. This document makes the following assumptions:

1. You need to recover multiple Word and/or Excel documents. We do not consider other document types here (usually they are much easier to recover).

2. The documents are protected with a password to open. All other password types are easily recoverable, so they do not require special consideration.

3. Office 97/2000 encryption mode has been used (the only mode available in Office 97/2000 and the default mode for Office XP/2003). If the obsolete (weak, pre-Office 97 ) encryption method has been used, all such documents and used passwords can be easily recovered. French version of Office also provides only weak encryption (due to French laws). If the advanced encryption method has been used (available as an option in Office XP/2003), all described methods (except for the first one) are not suitable.

Following recovery methods are available.

1. File-by-file recovery using regular recovery methods

This method is useful if all the documents (or most of them) have the same password. If you recover the password, you will be able to unlock all your documents. However it can take a lot of time. Still you can use our Word Password or Excel Password software if you want to try this. If the password is too long and complex it would require a huge amount of time. If you want to estimate the time needed, click here.

The situation becomes even worse if the documents have different passwords. You have to spend a lot of time trying to recover every single document (without any guarantee of success!). Now multiply this time by the number of documents you have... Too long!

2. Express Recovery

You can use Express Recovery to recover all your documents file by file. Express Recovery allows you to recover a password-protected document within a few minutes regardless of the password length. You can find out more about Express Recovery here. Please keep in mind that we charge a per-document fee for Express Recovery. However, we offer large volume discounts that can save you a great deal of money. Still if you have a lot of documents to recover, this approach is likely to be too expensive. And it becomes completely inappropriate if you have a huge number of documents to recover (you will spend too much time, money and efforts to process all your documents).

Why do we charge a per-document fee even if all the documents are encrypted with exactly the same password? Not because we are greedy and want to charge you again and again for each and every document. The reason is that both Word and Excel add a piece of random data to each password-protected document. Thus, even if you used the same password to protect two or more documents, they would be encrypted with different encryption keys. As a result of this, we have to process each file individually, spending resources on each of them. However there is an exception... keep reading!

3. Multiple Word Documents With The Same Encryption Key

If a Word document originates from another password-protected document via "Save As" menu command, both documents have exactly the same encryption key. It means that you can recover one of them using Express Recovery and then recover all such documents without paying extra fee. Unfortunately there is a difference between Word and Excel. This method is good for Word documents only because Excel always adds a unique "randomizer" to a new document. Our Office Password recovery software can help you check if your documents (or some of them) have the same encryption key (use the "File | Guaranteed Recovery | Check Multiple Files For The Same Key" menu command).

Note that this function is available in the DEMO version as well, so you do not have to pay just to check this.

4. Same Password Recovery

Recently we made available a new recovery service, namely Same Password Recovery. This service will help you save money (but not time!) if you have to recover multiple documents protected with the same password. The process of recovery takes up to 7 days (subject to availability) and the fee is $149. You will receive a "Super Key" (but not the original password!) that will unlock any Word or Excel document protected with the same password to open. Thus, this method is cheaper than Express Recovery if you can wait for 7 days and have 5 (or more) documents with the same password.

Important note! It is impossible to find out in advance whether given documents are encrypted with the same password. The only way to do it is to order Same Password Recovery, and try to open all these files using the "Super Key". If you documents have different passwords, the "Super Key" will unlock only one of them. Please understand that we cannot issue a refund in such a case. Contact us to check availability and obtain further information.

Privacy Note. We are committed to protecting your privacy. Same Password Recovery does not require you to send us your documents. Like Express Recovery, it transmits just a small piece (about 60 bytes) of the document's header to our server. This data does not contain the document's contents or any other private information. If you are interested in this option, please contact us.

5. Mass Recovery (TM)

Mass recovery is the method of choice if you have a lot (35+) of documents to recover. This method is a life-saver if you need to recover hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of documents. Mass Recovery works even if each document has a unique password.

Please note that you have to submit all the documents at once. If you forget to include some files into the task, you will have to place a new order or use another recovery method to process them.

Privacy Note. We are committed to protecting your privacy. Mass Recovery does not require you to send us your documents.

Please visit our site to find more details on Mass Recovery.