4 Ways| Unlock Excel File Password Protected [NEW]

How to Open Password Protected Excel Files

In recent years, protecting your essential Microsoft Excel files with passwords has been the only way to secure them. When it comes to work-related data and statistics, one must constantly be on their toes because of the ever-increasing number of cyber theft incidents. Everyone's computer, laptop, and electronic device at work should always be password protected to spare oneself the difficulty later on.

Do you know if it is still possible to unlock an Excel file that has been password protected? This article will provide everything you need to open your Microsoft Excel files spreadsheet if you forgot the password that is used to protect workbooks.

Before that, you should know that if the password-protected Excel doesn't open when you type in the right password, it may be because the Excel sheet is corrupted and not the password issue. So, let us check how to repair corrupted Excel files first. After repairing the Microsoft Excel sheet, you can open password protected Excel files again.

How to Open a Corrupted Password Protected Excel File (2 Ways)

We've all experienced having an Excel file that won't open because it's corrupted. The situation might worsen if you do not have a backup of your Excel files. However, the best and easiest method is to use an office repair tool, which allows you to access faulty/corrupt Excel files. There are two primary techniques for opening a corrupt Excel file:

1. Repair and Open Password Protected Excel with a File Repair Tool

Many software can be used to open corrupt password protected Excel files. However, one must approach with extreme caution when selecting a third-party tool to open a corrupt Excel file to protect workbooks. Ensure that this third-party product is dependable and capable of doing the job without compromising privacy.

EaseUS Fixo Document Repair is the most commonly recommended Excel file repair product on the market to carry out these types of tasks. The program can fix XLSX files quickly and efficiently. Additionally, the Excel file repair toolkit is available for the latest Windows OS.

• 👩‍⚕️It is possible to fix all corrupt Excel files and Word, PPT, PDF, and other Microsoft Office documents.
• 🗂️It can help you open 0KB PDF files, fix Microsoft Word not opening, PPT images not showing, etc.
• 📒Formulas, cell comments, photos, tables, chart sheets, and charts, among other things, are repaired.

Now, you can follow the steps below to open password protected Excel files with EaseUS Fixo:

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2. Repair Damaged Excel Files with the Open and Repair Method

Step 1. Select the "Microsoft Office" tab.

Step 2. Click the "Open" button.

Step 3. Choose the corrupt Microsoft Excel files when the 'Open' dialog box appears.

Step 4. Click the arrow, then choose "Open and Repair" to open corrupt files.

Step 5. Select the "Repair" option to repair Excel files.

If you have repaired Excel files with the mentioned methods, don't forget to share this page on social media to help more users open Excel files!

Unlock Excel Files That Are Password Protected (4 Ways)

Microsoft has implemented various security measures to keep the content of these Microsoft Excel files safe from prying eyes. However, this might turn into a significant problem. That's when you lose track of your password. Nevertheless, we have come up with three ways to open password protected Excel files.

Here is a video about unlocking password protected Excel files without a password. Hope it can help you!

• 00:00 How to unprotect Excel files worksheet
• 01:27 Remove Excel password from XML files
• 05:07 Wrap up

After watching the video, you can quickly learn the four methods from the following table:

Unlock Excel Files	Editor's Review
🔑Unlock with Password	Suppose you remember the Excel password but forget how to unprotect Excel sheets. You can go to this method to unlock the Excel.
⚠️Unprotect with VBA Code	This method is a little difficult, and you should make sure the code you copy is correct to unprotect Excel sheets.
🗂️Modifying the File Extension	This method is also a relatively complex one to unlock the target Excel, and you should follow the ten procedures we provide.
🔓Remove Password with Online Tool	This is the simplest method if you forget the password to unlock the password protected Excel sheet. You can visit the password remover website and upload the locked Excel file to unlock it.

Method 1. Unlock Password Protected Excel with Password

All you should do here is input the Excel file's password, and the file will be displayed next to you in a matter of seconds. These are the methods to access a password protected Excel sheet using a known password (The operation may be a little different if you are using different versions of Excel):

Fix 1. Open your Microsoft Excel file, find the password protected Excel sheet, right-click it, and choose "Unprotect Sheet...".

Fix 2. Click "Review" from the tab bar and click "Unprotect Sheet" to disable worksheet password protection.

Fix 3. Click "Home" from the tab bar and locate the Cells section. Click "Format" to see the "Unprotect Sheet" option in the context menu. Click the button to unprotect Excel files.

Because the Microsoft Excel sheet you are attempting to view is password protected, you will be prompted to enter the password with a pop-up to unprotect Excel sheet protection. You will be able to view the information on the sheet after it has been exposed.

Once you've entered your password, click the "OK" button at the bottom right of the pop-up to unlock the sheet protection. You will now be taken to the file, ready to view and work on. 

Another reason why this section has been dubbed the simplest and quickest of all is that it works with any Excel version, including Excel 2007, Excel 2010, Excel 2016, and above. You can share this simple method with your friends now to unlock password protected Excel files.

Method 2. Unprotect Excel Spreadsheet with VBA Code

VBA is a programming language created by Microsoft that is included with Microsoft Office. VBA is an abbreviation for Visual Basic for Applications. VBA code is used to do hundreds of activities, such as keeping a list of objects, predicting and budgeting, evaluating scientific data, and producing charts.

One of its benefits is its ability to assist you in unprotecting Microsoft Excel spreadsheets without needing third-party software. And it is simple to do by following these four steps.

Step 1. The first step is to open the Microsoft Excel file in question.

Step 2. The quickest way to launch Visual Basic Editor is to hit the Alt and F11 keys simultaneously.

Step 3. The next stage is to include an Insert Menu module.

Step 4. After you've opened the VBA code window, you'll need to enter the following lines of VBA code.

>Sub UnProtectWorkbook() On Error GoTo ErrorOccured Dim pwd1 As String, ShtName As String pwd1 = InputBox("Please Enter the password") If pwd1 = "" Then Exit Sub ShtName = "Workbook as a whole" ActiveWorkbook.Unprotect Password:=pwd1 MsgBox, "The workbook's structure has been Unprotected." Exit Sub error occurred: MsgBox "Workbook could not be UnProtected - Password Incorrect." Exit Sub End Sub

Step 5. After entering the VBA code lines into the code box, click the "Save" button. Your file will be saved in a worksheet that supports macros.

Step 6. Press F5 to carry out the preceding actions.

If you carefully follow the procedures, you will be able to unprotect Excel files without software using VBA code. You can also check the following passage to learn more about removing passwords from Excel:

Method 3. Open Password Protected Excel by Modifying the File Extension

While these techniques cannot be ideal for newer Microsoft Excel versions, they work very well for Microsoft Office 2010 or any prior Excel versions. By altering the file extension, you will be able to read or open password protected sheet by following these ten easy steps:

Step 1. One of the most crucial things you must do before the operation starts is establish a password-protected backup of the Excel file.

Step 2. After creating a backup, you must rename the file by right-clicking on the Microsoft Excel sheet and selecting the "rename" option.

Step 3. Whether your file is a .csv or a .xls extension, it is time to convert it to an a.zip extension.

Step 4. After renaming the file and changing the extension to.zip, it's time to unzip the zip file's contents.

Step 5. You must now look for a file that ends in.xml format.

Step 6. After you've located the file with the.xml extension, double-click it and open it in an XML editor.

Step 7. You can locate your target term by holding down the Ctrl and F keys simultaneously. In this situation, you're looking for the term "SheetProtection". You must look for it.

Step 8. Remove the term from the file after you've discovered it.

Step 9. Save the file after eliminating the word.

Step 10. After you've saved the file, change the file extension from.zip to.xls or.csv, whichever you want.

When you have completed all of the ten procedures outlined above, your Microsoft Excel file worksheets will be unprotected. It implies you'll be able to access any of your files without needing to enter the Excel password.

Unprotect Excel Workbook Without Password Online

If you have tried all the methods and cannot open your Excel files, try to unlock the file with a professional online tool if you forgot the password. You need to ensure the internet connection is stable to use the online tool to unlock your Excel files. You should know that this method is not 100% work, and you may not unlock Excel files when the password is strong and complex.

We recommend LostMyPass to open a password-protected Excel file online, and you just need a few steps to unlock the Excel file:

Step 1. Visit the LostMyPass website and click "Try It Now".

Step 2. Drag your locked Excel files to this window or click the button to upload them. Then, the online tool will unprotect Excel sheets for you.

Step 3. After unlocking Excel files, download them and save the file to your computer.

Unlocking Excel files is not impossible, and the following passage will introduce more online Excel file password removers to unprotect Excel sheets:

Final Words

Managing passwords for so many professional and personal files is becoming a challenge. With this article, we want to alleviate any frustration you might be experiencing with an Excel spreadsheet due to an inability to recall the password you used. With the EaseUS Fixo Document Repair, you have an excellent opportunity to open password-protected Excel files. Make it count!

Unlock a Password Protected Excel File FAQs

In this section, we hope you can learn more information from the frequently asked questions about unlocking Excel files.

1. Can you unlock an Excel file without the password?

You have three methods to unlock an Excel file without a password:

• Unprotect Excel file with VBA code
• Open password protected Excel files by modifying the file extension
• Unprotect Excel sheet without Password online

2. How to protect an Excel sheet with a password?

After opening the Excel file on your computer, you can right-click the sheet that you want to protect with a password. Then, choose "Protect Sheet..." and your Excel worksheet will be protected with the typed-in password.

3. Why can't I open an Excel file on Windows?

Many reasons can cause you not to open protected Excel files on Windows, including the Excel file being locked, the file format is not supported, or the Excel file being corrupted. You can use EaseUS Fixo Document Repair to fix corrupt Excel files and other documents.