Removing passwords from .Docx files using Powershell - powershell

Question

I'm very new to Powershell and been banging my head against this for a while, hopefully someone can point me towards where I am going wrong. I am trying to use Powershell to remove the opening passwords from multiple .docx files in a folder. I can get it to change the password to something else but cannot get it to remove entirely, the part in Bold below is where I am getting tripped up and the error code details are at the bottom, appreciate any help with this!
$path = ("FilePath")
$passwd = ("CurrentPassword")
$counter=1
$WordObj = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application
foreach ($file in $count=Get-ChildItem $path -Filter \*.docx) {
$WordObj.Visible = $true
$WordDoc = $[WordObj.Documents.Open](https://WordObj.Documents.Open)
($file.FullName, $null, $false, $null, $passwd)
$WordDoc.Activate()
$WordDoc.Password=$null
$WordDoc.Close()
Write-Host("Finished: "+$counter+" of "+$count.Length)
$counter++
}
$WordObj.Application.Quit()
**Error details -** Object reference not set to an instance of an object. At line: 14 char: 5
\+$WordDoc.Password=$Null
\+Category info: Operations Stopped: (:) \[\], NullReferenceException
\+FullyQualifiedErrorId: System.NullReferenceException
I got an answer elsewhere to try using .unprotect instead but not sure how to insert this into my code!

Answer 1

$path = 'X:\TheFolderWhereTheProtectedDocumentsAre'
$passwd = 'CurrentPassword'
$counter = 0
$WordObj = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application
$WordObj.Visible = $false
# get the .docx files. Make sure this is an array using #()
$documentFiles = #(Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Filter '*.docx' -File)
foreach ($file in $documentFiles) {
try {
# add password twice, first for the document, next for the documents template
$WordDoc = $WordObj.Documents.Open($file.FullName, $null, $false, $null, $passwd, $passwd)
$WordDoc.Activate()
$WordDoc.Password = $null
$WordDoc.Close(-1) # wdSaveChanges, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.wdsaveoptions
$counter++
}
catch {
Write-Warning "Could not open file $($file.FullName):`r`n$($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
Write-Host "Finished: $counter documents of $($documentFiles.Count)"
# quit Word and dispose of the used COM objects in memory
$WordObj.Quit()
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($WordDoc)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($WordObj)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()