To recover the password for an Outlook form

Code Sample

Sub GetFormPassword() Dim objApp As Application Dim objInsp As Inspector Dim objFD As FormDescription Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application") Set objInsp = objApp.ActiveInspector If Not objInsp Is Nothing Then Set objFD = objInsp.CurrentItem.FormDescription MsgBox _ Prompt:="The password for the " & _ Chr(34) & objFD.MessageClass & _ Chr(34) & " form is:" & _ vbCrLf & vbCrLf & objFD.Password, _ Title:="Get Form Password" Else MsgBox _ Prompt:="Please open an item using " & _ "the desired form before you " & _ "run the GetFormPassword macro.", _     Title:="Get Form Password" End If   Set objFD = Nothing Set objNS = Nothing Set objApp = Nothing End Sub

Notes

After you retrieve the password with this macro, you may want to open the form in design mode – entering the password in the prompt that appears – and remove the password protection completely. On the (Properties) page, clear the Protect form design box to remove the password protection. You can also set a new password with the Set Password button.

If you don't have Outlook 2000 or later, you can use this code in a Visual Basic or a VBA project in Word. Just remember to add a reference to the Outlook library.

If the password was entered with non-printing characters, the MsgBox will show a number of squares like this          instead of the password text. You can still retrieve the password with this additional code:

        strPassword = objFD.Password
        intLen = Len(strPassword)
        For i = 1 To intLen
            Debug.Print Asc(Mid(strPassword, i, 1))
        Next

You might need to use SendKeys to enter such non-printing characters in the form's password dialog.

To set a password that's more secure, you can set up Office to support an additional non-ASCII language, such as Russian. Enter the password with the other language turned on. If the password is entered in that fashion, both the code samples above will return only ???? for a four-character password. You will, of course, need to switch to that other language before entering the password to get into form design mode.

More Information

• Designing Microsoft Outlook Forms