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How to edit a protected excel file. How to unprotect an excel sheet if you forgot your password? Tell your friends on social networks

Many put passwords on certain documents. If the file has not been used for a long time, then the secret word may be forgotten. It is not always possible to remember it, but still there are ways by which it will be possible to open a document.

Consider how you can remove the password in an Excel file.

Removing a password in an Excel file using a script

You can open a password-protected document using the free VBA script Excel Password Remover. After downloading the program, you need to run it. The utility will immediately be embedded in Excel, which will display a message on the screen about the macro launch. You can safely run it, after which you should open your password-protected file and select "Straxx" from the Excel menu.

The important thing is that the script does not attempt to crack the Excel password by selecting random phrases, it disables the protection call in the document from the inside, which is much easier. The whole procedure takes about 2 minutes.

Removing a password from an Excel document manually

You can remove the password in the Excel file and manually.

To do this, you need to open the document, go to the "File" tab, select the "Details" item, and then in the list that opens, the heading "Permissions".
In a new window, click "Encrypt with a password", after which a window will open in which the password entered earlier will be displayed. You need to delete it and click on the OK button.
Close the document. The application will ask you if you want to save the changes, you must click on the "Yes" button.
Run the document again and you will see that Excel does not require you to enter a password.

How to Crack a Password in Excel: The Easy Way

Sometimes there are times when we work on important documents and don't want anyone to see them. Or, at least, we prohibit editing the content without our knowledge. But, as practice shows, if such files are not opened for a long time, the owner himself may forget the access code. In this article, we will look at how to remove protection from a sheet in Excel editor without knowing the password.

It's not about hacking someone else's documents. We will work with what is on our computer.

When you open a protected document, you will see the following.

The toolbar will be inactive. File modification and almost all functions are not available. Try clicking somewhere and typing something on the keyboard.

The selected cell will be inactive and editing will not be possible. In this case, the following error will appear.

In order to unlock a document in Excel, you need to perform the following steps.

Click on the "File" menu item.

In the window that appears, click on the "Unprotect" link.

Immediately after that, you will be asked to enter a password. If you do not know him, then you will not be able to remove the protection.

A similar window can also be called through another menu. To do this, you need to follow a few simple steps.

Go to the "Review" tab and click on the "Unprotect Sheet" button.
The result will be exactly the same.

In this case, the book is readable, but you can't change anything. It is worth noting that sometimes, if the maximum file protection is not set, Excel allows you to copy the contents of the cells.

Try selecting something and hitting the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C . The active range will immediately be highlighted with a dotted frame. This means that the ability to copy is not disabled.

open new document and press the keys Ctrl + V . The data will be transferred perfectly and for this you do not need to hack anything.

How to remove protection in Excel 2003

The steps described above are suitable for new versions of Excel. In the old way, the principle of operation is slightly different. When you open the file, many features will also be unavailable.

In order to remove the blocking, you need to perform the following steps.

Click on the "Service" menu item.
Then select "Protect".
After that - "Remove sheet protection".

Right after that, you will be asked to enter the security key.

How to remove the password

Whether you're trying to hack into someone else's document or open your own old file- in any case, you have to do the same thing. For the program there is no difference and it does not understand who the owner is. You end up trying to bypass the protection.

In fact, everything is very simple. To do this, follow these steps.

Most likely, your operating system does not display file extensions. To enable them, follow a few simple steps:
1. Open File Explorer.
2. Click the "View" tab.
3. Place a check mark next to the relevant item.

Then change the extension of your file from XLSX to ZIP.

To do this, click on the file and press the F2 key. After you change the end of the document and press the Enter button, you will see the following window. Click on the "Yes" button.

Your file now has a new icon because Windows system thinks it's an archive.

Open this file (but do not unpack!). Go to the "xl" folder.

Then to "worksheets".

A list of files for each sheet will appear in this folder. Click on it with the mouse and drag it to the explorer.

Then right click on this file. Select "Edit" from the menu that appears.

As a result, the following window will appear.

Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F . Enter the word "sheetProtection" there. Then click on the "Find Next" button.

If the file is saved in Excel 2013 or 2016 editor, you will see the following.

In the 2007 program, this tag is much shorter, and the type of encryption is simpler.

Remove everything contained in the sheetProtection tag. In the case of an example, you need to remove this piece.

Then save the document by pressing the hot keys Ctrl + S . We transfer this file back (from the explorer to the archiver).

The constituent component of the office suite - Microsoft Excel for a long time, and quite deservedly, has become the main tool in business areas. It is most actively used by accountants, estimators, mathematicians and businessmen.

Many, in order to protect their calculations from outsiders, put protection on an Excel workbook, or protect a separate sheet. If this is information intended only for the owner, there are no problems. But more often it is intended for the work of employees of the company. The file is sent by mail, forgetting to remove protection, or not warning the addressee about the existence of such a sheet in the file.

Working with Excel 2003

The task is to add a list on the page. When you try to enter the next serial number, you encounter a message: the cell or chart is protected from changes.

The action plan is prompted by Excel itself. We follow the path: Service → Protection → Unprotect sheet.

Working with Excel 2007, 2010

V this option Excel has a different menu, instead of "Tools" it is used: "Review" → "Unprotect sheet" (group "Changes").

Important! The "Unprotect sheet" item is active if it is protected. In the case of 2007 or 2010 - installed general access to the workbook to be cancelled.

Reset the password of a protected sheet

If you sent an Excel file in which the sheet is password protected and the owner is unavailable or, corny, forgot the password. The only task before the user is to reset the password in order to be able to work with this page.

They do this:

Using add-ons.
Using the archiver and notepad.

We find and install a macro that performs our task.

Add-in installation

The downloaded macro (add-on) is placed in the Addins folder (the default macro folder).
We go along the path Tools → add-ons → overview.
Select the desired file.
We install.

The macro is launched along the path from clause 2. macro settings. We remove protection by resetting the password for the active sheet.

After starting, it seems that the program is frozen, because the process takes about two minutes, after which we will receive a message.

Using the archiver and notepad

Important! This method only possible for xlsx files. Those. files created in versions later than 2003. Alternatively, you can resave the file in a newer version.

Procedure:

Open with an existing archiver, for example, WinRar.
Among the archive files will be sheet1.xml. Let's open it with any text editor(for example notepad).
Find the text sheetProtection password.
Remove the password value (what is in quotes).
Or use this value as the password for protecting the sheet.

If the tips in the article did not help you or if you have a question about Windows or Microsoft products, please contact us. Together we will try to find the answer.

In order to protect data both from unauthorized persons and from their own accidental actions, users can set protection on Excel documents. Alas, not everyone knows how to remove such protection in order to gain access to information, including being able to edit it. And what if the file was received from another user who forgot to give us the password, or we accidentally forgot (lost) it? Let's take a closer look.

Note that blocking Excel document There are two ways: to protect a sheet or a book. Accordingly, what actions need to be taken to unlock it will depend on this.

Removing the protection from the sheet

A password for protection can be set not only for the entire document, but also for a specific sheet. In this case, the user will be able to see the contents of the sheet, but he will not be able to edit the information.

To unprotect a sheet, follow these steps:

Change the file code to remove sheet protection

This method is needed in cases where the password was lost or not transferred along with the file from another user. It works only for those documents that are protected at the level of individual sheets, and not the entire book, because. we need to get into the menu "File", which is not possible when password-protecting the entire document.

To remove protection, you must perform the following sequence of actions:

Go straight to step 4 if the file extension is XLSX (Excel workbook). If the document format is XLS (Excel Workbook 97-2003), you must first re-save it with desired extension. To do this, go to the menu "File".
Select from the list on the left "Save as", then in the right part of the window, click the button "Overview".
In the window that appears, select any convenient place to save the file, set the format "Excel Book" and click OK.
We open in Explorer XLSX document folder (newly saved or pre-existing). To enable file extensions, go to the tab "View", where we enable the desired option in the tool group “Show or hide”.
Note: the actions in this step and below in the operating system are described on Windows example 10.
Right-click on the document and in the list that opens, click on the command "Rename"(or you can just press the key F2, after selecting the file).
Instead of extension xlsx write "zip" and confirm the change.
Now the system will identify the file as an archive, the contents of which can be opened by double-clicking the left mouse button.
In the opened folder, go to the directory “xl”, then - “worksheets”. Here we see files in the format XML, which contains information about sheets. You can open them with the usual notepad.
Note: in Windows 10, you can assign a default program by file type in the system settings (launched by pressing the keys Win+I), In chapter “Applications”, then - “Default Apps” – "Choice standard applications for file types”.
After successfully opening the file, we need to find the phrase in its contents “sheetProtection”. To do this, we will use the search, which can be launched both through the menu "Edit"(paragraph "Find"), or by pressing the key combination ctrl+f.
Enter the desired phrase and press the button “Find next”.
After finding the desired match, the search window can be closed.
We erase the phrase and everything related to it (between the opening and closing tags).
On the menu "File" choose a team "Save as"(or press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+S).
Saving the document immediately in the archive will not work. Therefore, we do it in any other place convenient for us on the computer, while not changing the name and specifying the extension "xml"(file type must be selected - "All files").
Copy the newly created file to the folder “worksheets” our archive (with the replacement of the original).
Note: record “sheetProtection” present in all password-protected sheet files. Therefore, the actions described above for finding and deleting it are done with all other files. XML in the folder “worksheets”.
Again we go to the folder containing our archive and change back the extension from "zip" on the xlsx by renaming.
Now you can open the file and safely edit it. You do not need to enter a password to unprotect.

Third party password removers

You can use third-party programs to remove your password. At the same time, it is worth remembering the possible risk associated with downloading, installing and using non-standard tools. operating system and Excel programs.

If, nevertheless, you decide to take advantage of this opportunity, you can pay attention to enough popular program Accent OFFICE Password Recovery .

Link to the official page with the program: https://passwordrecoverytools.com/office-password.asp .

Please note that in order to gain access to all the functions of the program, you need to purchase a license. A demo version is available to get acquainted with the application, however, it does not allow you to delete passwords.

Conclusion

Protecting a book or a single sheet is extremely useful features Excel programs when you need to protect information from unauthorized persons or, for example, protect yourself from accidental changes to important read-only data. But sometimes the opposite need arises - to remove the previously installed protection. This can be done in different ways, depending on how it was installed. And even if you forgot the password, the lock can be removed, however, only if the code has been set for individual sheets, and not for the entire book.

If the password for unprotecting the sheet is not known (forgotten or lost for another reason),unprotect Excel sheet it is possible with the help of an add-in (macro), but if the password is known, then the protection is removed by standard using Excel. Let's take a closer look at how to remove sheet protection in Excel.

Attention! Before proceeding to unprotect an Excel worksheet, make sure that on the Editing tab, the Allow multiple users to modify the file at the same time box is unchecked. If this box is checked, then the buttons "Protect Sheet", "Protect Book", "Unprotect Sheet", "Unprotect Book" will be inactive! In order to check whether this box is checked, go to the menu item Tools / Access to the book ... (if you work in Excel 2003) or to the "Review" tab, in the "Changes" group, click the "Access to the book" button ( if you are working in Excel 2007 or Excel 2010).

How to unprotect a worksheet in Excel 2003?

In order to unprotect a sheet in Excel 2003, select the menu item Tools/Protection/Unprotect Sheet...

If a password was used to protect a sheet, the Unprotect Sheet dialog box will appear when you unprotect a sheet, prompting you to enter a password to unprotect the sheet. If the password is entered correctly, the protection of the sheet will be removed.

How to unprotect a worksheet in Excel 2007?

Unprotecting an Excel 2007 sheet is done on the Review tab by clicking the Unprotect Sheet button.

When you unprotect a worksheet in Excel, a dialog box may appear asking you to enter a password. If you know it, then everything is fine, enter it and the protection is removed.

How to unprotect a sheet in Excel 2010?

You can remove the protection of an Excel sheet in this version of the application in the same way as it was done in Excel previous version. Go to the "Review" tab and in the "Changes" group, click the "Unprotect sheet" button.

Enter a password if necessary.

How to unprotect an excel sheet without knowing the password?

There may be situations when you forgot the password you entered earlier to protect the sheet from changes by users, and the sheet again needs to make any changes. Password recovery in Excel in such cases can be reduced to remove password from excel sheet and then setting a new password. You can also quickly do this using the add-in for Excel.

The add-in is easily installed, after which an additional button appears in the Excel menu to launch the program (macro). After running the macro, a dialog box appears in which the user can select desired mode work.

The add-on allows:

1. Enter the password in the dialog box and unprotect the active worksheet;

2. Enter the password in the dialog box and unprotect all sheets of the workbook at once;

3. Pick up forgotten password and unprotect the active worksheet by selecting the "Reset password" option (guessing a password of any complexity in 2-3 minutes);

4. By selecting passwords, remove the protection of all sheets of the workbook (working time depends on the number of protected sheets in the workbook).

How to unprotect all excel sheets?

Unprotecting worksheets can be tedious and time consuming if your workbook has many protected worksheets and frequently needs to be unprotected and then reinstalled. standard capability, which allows you to remove and install protection immediately on all sheets of a workbook in Excel is not. You can implement this feature using VBA - built into applications Microsoft Office programming language. If protection is removed and set quite often, and workbooks contain several sheets, then you can automate the operation using add-ins for Excel, while the program (macro) will go through all the sheets of the workbook and remove protection from changes.

Quick removal of protection from all sheets at once, or selective removal of protection only from those sheets of the workbook that are specified by the user, in the case when all passwords are known to the user, can be done using the add-in, the dialog box of which is shown below.