5 Ways on How to Unprotect Excel Sheet Without Password 2024

Protecting your Excel worksheet with password is a great way to secure your work and your data. However, if you have forgotten the password, getting access to your worksheet can be difficult.

As a result, if you are looking for ways to unprotect your Excel sheet without a password, continue reading this article.

Here are the 5 best ways to unprotect an Excel sheet without password.

Part 1. Basic Information about Excel Worksheet Protection

Before sending your Excel spreadsheet, it is important to protect the data that is to be shared. You don't want the data modified, altered, deleted, or others. This is where Excel worksheet protection comes in.

One of the best features of Excel is that it has in-built features that allow the protection of your spreadsheets. By setting a password, you can lock the cells in your Excel worksheet and then protect the Excel sheet.

Here's an example:

You are in charge of the financial report worksheet. In this sheet, you want your team members only to add data in the cells and not change or delete anything else. However, you have no idea how to control that. With Excel worksheet protection, you can ensure that some parts of the cells are editable and other cells can't be modified.

To enable Excel worksheet protection:

• Go to the worksheet you want to be protected.
• Choose the cells that users can edit.
• Right-click on a cell within the range, and choose Format Cells.
• In the protection section, click Locked, and then OK.

Note: Worksheet protection is not designed to be a form of security. It prevents users from altering, adding, or deleting data in locked cells. Also, protecting a worksheet and a workbook with a password should not be seen as the same thing. There is a difference between the two.

When a worksheet is protected, a single worksheet is protected while the rest are unprotected. In contrast, when a workbook is protected, the entire worksheet with all the cells and data in the book will be protected.

Part 2. Unlock an Excel Sheet by Copying and Pasting

This sounds very simple, but most people do not consider this option due to its simplicity. The best way to do this is to copy and paste the worksheet contents into a new workbook.

• Run the password-protected worksheet
• Press 'Ctrl+A' to select all, then copy all the cells.
• Create a new Excel sheet and paste the copied cells into the new sheet.

With this, the protected cells will be unlocked.

Note:

• Before you protect the sheet, ensure that the 'Select locked cells' and 'Select unlocked cells' options are enabled. Without this, this method won't work.
• Every external link in the password-protected sheet will be removed once pasted into a new sheet.

Part 3. Unlock Excel Sheets without Password Online with Google Sheet

You can unprotect a sheet in Excel without password online using a web-based spreadsheet solution – Google sheet. All you'll need is a Google Drive account.

• Open your Google sheet and log in with your own Google account.
• Go to the Google sheet section and create a new sheet.
• Go to File -> Import.

• In the Import section, click on Select a file from your device, or you could drag and drop your worksheet in the import section.

• Once uploaded, select 'Replace spreadsheet' -> Import data. You will notice that it is now unprotected.

• Select File -> Download as -> Microsoft Excel -> Save as -> Name the file -> Save.

In the Excel document, the sheets are unprotected.

Note:

• Unprotecting an Excel sheet with Google sheets could be time-consuming and slow if the data size is large.
• Once your Excel has been uploaded to Google sheets, it will be stored in the cloud. There won't be any level of security on your data, making it vulnerable to leakage.

Part 4. Unprotect Excel Sheet without Password with FoneGeek for Excel

When looking for how to unprotect an excel sheet without password using an excel recovery tool, FoneGeek for Excel is the best option available. This tool is widely used to unprotect passwords for MS Excel files. In addition, FoneGeek for Excel removes the restrictions for MS Excel Sheets and workbooks.

Here are the core features of FoneGeek for Excel:

• Supports to unlock the Excel file by recovering the opening password with exclusive technology.
• Remove read-only restrictions from password-protected Excel to edit, copy and print in 3 seconds.
• Multi-core CPU and GPU Acceleration is supported to speed up the password removing process.
• Your Excel data won't be lost. There are no limitations to the file size, and it's easy to use.
• The success rate to remove restrictions is 100%.

Download and install the FoneGeek for Excel on your PC, then follow the procedures below:

Step 1. Once the FoneGeek program has been installed, you will notice two options, 'Recover Passwords' and 'Remove Restrictions'. Select 'Remove Restrictions'.

Step 2. Import the password-protected Excel sheet and click the 'Remove' button.

Step 3. Within 3 seconds, the password protection will be removed.

Once completed, the now unprotected excel sheet will open. Therefore, you can make changes to the cells without restrictions.

No matter how simple or complex your passwords are, FoneGeek for Excel can break through them within seconds.

Part 5. Unprotect Excel Worksheet by Changing File Extension

Also known as the Zip method, this method requires you to change the file extension. If your Excel files are saved in .xlsx format, it is perfect. Therefore, if your worksheet is saved in .xls format, change the format by saving it in .xlsx.

This method is quite complicated. As a result, be careful when using this method.

• Change your password-protected file from .xlsx to .zip. A warning prompt will pop up. Click 'Yes' to proceed.

• Using 7Zip software, open the Zip archive.
• Search for the 'xl' folder -> open the 'xl->worksheets' folder. In this folder, a list of sheets with the extension '.xlm' will be displayed.

• Right-click on the sheet you want to unprotect -> Edit -> Notepad.
• Once done, delete the tag starting with 'sheetProtection' and save the xml file.

• Close the file and comprise the files in another folder with an extraction program. Change the extension to .xlsx and open the file.
• The password will be removed after that.

Note:

• This method is only effective for users with MS office 2007 and older versions
• If you are not familiar with Excel, do not use this method. It is complex and difficult to understand.

Part 6. Unprotect Excel Sheet without Password via VBA code

Using Visual Basic Application (VBA) code to unprotect excel sheet has been proven to be quite effective if the protected Excel version is Excel 2010 version or older.

• Open the password-protected Excel document.
• Once you have opened the password-protected excel sheet, pressing Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor. Or you could also open the VBA editor by selecting 'Developer' on the home tab and clicking the 'Visual Basic' .
• Note: If Developer is not there, click File > Options > Customize Ribbon, switch Choose commands from to All Commands, and move Developer from the left menu to the right one. If it's not on the left menu, check on the right menu, and check the box. Click OK when you're done.
• Once the VBA editor is opened, expand the Microsoft Excel Objects option, and right-click the password-protected worksheet (Project-VBA pane). From the context menu, select Insert, then Module.

• In the window that comes up, paste the code below:

• Next, press the Run button or F5 to run the script.
• Once done, the window will display a cracked code (ABCs). You don't need to remember the password. Just click OK, and the worksheet is unprotected.

Note:

• If there are multiple sheets to be protected, you will have to run the VBA method for the remaining protected sheets one by one.
• For Excel 2013 and 2016 versions, save the sheet doc as Excel 97-2003 workbook with 'xls' Extension. Next, run the window to unprotect the sheet. Once done, save it as a .xlsx file.

Part 7. Tips for You

When you want to unprotect an Excel sheet without password, there are a few things you have to put in mind. These include:

• Do not use the methods mentioned above for dishonest causes. You should only use the methods above if the sheet belongs to you and you want to unprotect your sheet because you have forgotten your password.
• If you have more than one Excel sheet, apply the method for each sheet. This is because they can't be unprotected at once.
• Ensure you make a copy of the excel sheet. This is because you may lose data in unprotecting the sheets, and you will have something to return to. It is advisable to unprotect using a copied file.

Conclusion

Stop looking for answers to 'How to unprotect Excel sheet without password', The methods mentioned above are sure ways to unlock your Excel sheets.

Some Excel sheets contain confidential data that shouldn't be shared with online sources. This is where FoneGeek for Excel comes in. It is effective with 2 sure ways for a quick excel sheet unprotecting. Save yourself the hassle and stress and get FoneGeek for Excel.

Joan J. Mims is interested in researching all tips about iPhone, iPad and Android. He loves to share useful ideas with all users.

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