Lost Password to Report

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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techgy
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Lost Password to Report

#1

Post by techgy »

I received a request from a branch president today regarding the following MLS problem;

> I was creating a confidential form to submit to the Stake President. I had
> spent hours putting it together over multiple days. I saved it and gave it
> a password. On the last pass I saved it and gave it a password. I guess I
> hit a wrong key, but I can't retrieve it (Wrong Password). Is there anyway
> to override it? I don't want to recreate it if I can help it.

Suggestions?
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

Is this a PDF document?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
techgy
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#3

Post by techgy »

RussellHltn wrote:Is this a PDF document?
No. It's a confidential document within the framework of the MLS program.
lajackson
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#4

Post by lajackson »

Techgy wrote:I received a request from a branch president today regarding the following MLS problem;

> I was creating a confidential form to submit to the Stake President. I had
> spent hours putting it together over multiple days. I saved it and gave it
> a password. On the last pass I saved it and gave it a password. I guess I
> hit a wrong key, but I can't retrieve it (Wrong Password). Is there anyway
> to override it? I don't want to recreate it if I can help it.

Suggestions?
I do not know of a way to retrieve it without the password. I would suggest he try several combinations of mis-keys that he might have entered and see if he hits upon the correct one.

If that does not work, because the branch president has spent a good amount of time on it, it might be worth a call to Local Unit Support to see if they would be willing to retrieve it for you, but I suspect that even if they were, it would take some time to do.

Sadly, the best way is probably to type it in again. Hopefully, he has some notes to work from, even if he did not print out a working copy along the way. (or perhaps he did?)
techgy
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#5

Post by techgy »

lajackson wrote:I do not know of a way to retrieve it without the password. I would suggest he try several combinations of mis-keys that he might have entered and see if he hits upon the correct one.

If that does not work, because the branch president has spent a good amount of time on it, it might be worth a call to Local Unit Support to see if they would be willing to retrieve it for you, but I suspect that even if they were, it would take some time to do.

Sadly, the best way is probably to type it in again. Hopefully, he has some notes to work from, even if he did not print out a working copy along the way. (or perhaps he did?)
He's already tried several combinations of keys in the hope of hitting the right one. The only hard-copy that he has is an earlier generation that doesn't contain all the material that the final report did.
lajackson
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#6

Post by lajackson »

Techgy wrote:He's already tried several combinations of keys in the hope of hitting the right one. The only hard-copy that he has is an earlier generation that doesn't contain all the material that the final report did.
Then I would make the call and ask Local Unit Support. But, I would expect the answer to be that he will need to enter the report again. At least he will have something to start from instead of having to do it all over again.
techgy
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#7

Post by techgy »

lajackson wrote:Then I would make the call and ask Local Unit Support. But, I would expect the answer to be that he will need to enter the report again. At least he will have something to start from instead of having to do it all over again.
Yea, that was my thought when I first received his request.
I've spoken to him on the phone and he's already resigned to doing it again. Of course a small miracle would have been appreciated :)

I'll ask him to call support in the morning and see if they can assist, but I'm with you that the file is probably not retrievable.
techgy
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#8

Post by techgy »

As a follow up to this problem it probably wouldn't have happened if the password field was request twice as confirmation. Apparently a password is only asked for once and without confirmation it's very easy to mis-type something and get locked out.
crislapi
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#9

Post by crislapi »

I know of no way to recover lost passwords for these documents.

Probably not an option anymore, but he might have been able to restore to a backup on the date he entered the correct password, just having to redo the work on that last day.

As an option now, he could maybe:
1) create a backup for today
2) restore to backup when the password was entered correctly
3) finalize report and print
4) create backup - change name so it indicates it is the finalized report
5) restore to the backup created in #1

Personally, I would not recommend having someone play around with the backups like that, but if it really is that much work, that's the option.

I would be very clear that while working on the confidential report he should not send/receive at all. Do nothing but complete the report and print it.
techgy
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#10

Post by techgy »

Counsel from the MLS support desk was to have him re-do the document.
Although a programmer could possibly gain access to the file, it's not worth the effort it would take.
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