Unlock Locked Excel File (Sheet/Workbook) for Editing Without Password

Have you ever encountered this situation when you want to make an edit to an excel sheet and a warning notification pops up: “The cell or chat you are trying to change is on a protected sheet. To make a change, unprotect the sheet. You might be requested to enter a password.” Follow this article to unlock locked Excel sheet/workbook for editing without password.

Note: This article only introduces to remove the Excel file edit password, if you want to remove the excel file open password, check the related article here: how to open password protected excel file.

1. Part 1: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing with iSunshare Software
2. Part 2: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing with Free Utilities

Part 1: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing with iSunshare Software

First of all, the simple way is to use the software to unlock the excel sheet edit password, you can operate the Excel Password Genius, Excel Password Remover or Workbook Unprotect Genius. This article introduces you to the software Workbook Unprotect Genius, you just need to add the excel file that you want to unlock the editing password, and you can unlock the editing password with one click.

Step 1: Download and install iSunshare Workbook Unprotect Genius on your PC.

Step 2: Click Open button, and you can select Excel file to add to Workbook Unprotect Genius.

Step 3: Now, you can see the Excel file address in File Name box. Click Remove Password button and instantly all the passwords that make excel file read-only are removed.

Step 4: Click OK. It means you have successfully removed edit restrictions from Excel file. And you would get an unprotected excel file in the same location of protected excel file.

Undoubtedly, Workbook Unprotect Genius could remove edit protection password on excel file. But it also has some limitations:
The excel file you import should be saved in *.xlsx format and include the worksheet you want to unprotect. If it is *.xls file, convert it into *.xlsx at first.
Its trial version only could import protected excel file, but it cannot unlock the editing password from the file. So, if you want to successfully remove the password for editing in the excel sheet, please take its full version.

Part 2: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing with Free Utilities

1. Way 1: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via VBA Code
2. Way 2: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via Zip Tool
3. Way 3: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via Google Sheets

Way 1: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via VBA Code

Visual Basic for Application(VBA) is a programming language developed by Microsoft to create macros for excel. If you lost the password of excel sheet, you can solve the problem by running VBA code.

Step 1: Open the Excel sheet which you want to remove its editing password. Then press Alt+F11 keys simultaneously to open the Visual Basic editor.

Step 2: Click Insert on the toolbar, and then select Module. Enter the following code in the module window.

Sub PasswordBreaker()   
'Breaks worksheet password protection.

Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer
Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer
Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer,i3 As Integer
Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer

On Error Resume Next
For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66
For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65To 66
For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65To 66
For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126

ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _
Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _
Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)
If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then
MsgBox "Password is " & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & _
Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _
Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

Exit Sub
End If
Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
End Sub

Step 3: After entering the VBA code, click the Run Sub/UserForm button from the toolbar or press F5 to run it.

Step 4: Wait a moment and a box will pop up showing your password. Write it down and use it to open your Excel sheet/workbook.

Way 2: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via Zip Tool

Step 1: Use WIN+E keys to open File Explorer, select the password-protected file and click View > File name extensions. File Explorer will display the selected file type (i.e. xlsx).

Step 2: Change the file extension from xlsx to zip.

Step 3: Click OK in the pop-up dialog prompt.

Step 4: Unzip the contents of the zip file, find the file with the .xml extension, and open it with Notepad.

Step 5: Press Ctrl + F keys at the same time and type Protection to find the line containing Protection and delete the entire Protection portion from file text. (Tip: If there are multiple .xml files, delete the Protection lines inside the .xml files one by one.

Step 6: Save and change the file extension from .zip to .xlsx, click to open the Excel sheet to edit and you will find that you do not need to enter the password anymore.

Way 3: Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing via Google Sheets

You can use Google Sheets to unlock documents. The method is as follows;

Step 1: Go to https://drive.google.com on your browser and from there you can access Google Sheets.

Step 2: Once you have logged into your account, click on "New" in the top left corner of the website.

Step 3: Click on "File upload", then select the Excel sheet with the editing password which you want to unlock, and upload it to Google Drive.

Step 4: Once the upload is complete, locate the document in Google Drive then right-click it, click "Open with" to expand the menu, and then select "Google Sheets".

The excel sheet will open in Google Sheets and all protections on the excel sheet will be removed.

Related Articles:

• Open Password Protected Excel File without password
• 2 Ways to Unprotect Excel Worksheet without Password
• How to Protect/Unprotect Workbook Structure and Windows
• Forgot Excel 2010/2013/2016 Workbook Password | How to Do