Old format master password that I don't remember

[gmt119x]

I updated to a new MacOS (v12.4) and new LibreOffice (v7.3.4.2) and was prompted to update my master password. I entered what I had saved elsewhere, but it doesn’t work. I’ve done several of the things suggested here.
What I did:

1. I downloaded xmlcopyeditor.app and it quit on launch.
2. I tried the “save as…” to save with a different filename and a new password, but that didn’t work either.
3. I tried finding some of the xml config files since I know it well and could manually update, but most of your help is targeted to Linux systems.

What I need:

1. I have thousands of document files I need to be able to access. I just lost my job (567 of 700 IT people were let go where I used to work) and I need to update my resume, etc.
2. Just as importantly, even if I can’t (for now) access the old documents, I do need to be able to create new ones.

gregory_m_thompson(at)yahoo-com

[BigRAl]

@gmt119x, please remove your email address from this (public-facing) post: spammers will love you otherwise!

[mikekaganski]

Master password in LibreOffice guards other passwords saved in LibreOffice to access external services such as databases and/or remote storage like WebDAV. It is not used to keep passwords of documents themselves.

It is possible that you didn’t even create such a password: some recent change (targeted to improve security of existing passwords) had introduced a bug, when it asked even when there was no such password.

Even if you had set it, and forgot the master password itself, if you remember your actual passwords for the external services, you can safely reset the master password (you will only loose the stored passwords in LibreOffice, nothing else). You may either reset the user profile, or - preferably - use Options|LibreOffice|Security, and uncheck Persistently save passwords for web connections (this is presumably the option page that should be opened using a button on the “update password” infobar).