Forum Discussion
How to unprotect Excel sheet if forgot the password
I recently encountered a problem and hope to get your help. I set a protection password for an Excel file before. Now I want to modify some data, but I found that I forgot Excel password. I wonder if...
You don't need to change the file extension to zip or arj or whatever.
You can just right click the xlsx file and choose to open it with a ZIP editor.
I use and recommend 7-zip.
Thereafter, the procedure is the same as explained by EdwardGreen and ToddSumrall, i.e.:
- Find the directory called \xl\worksheets\ and spot the (first) XML file related to the sheet you want to unlock.
- Right-click the XML file and choose EDIT -> your text editor will open the XML file.
- Inside the XML file, find the "sheetProtection" tag and entirely delete it (i.e. from the "<" symbol just before "sheetProtection", to the nextcoming ">" symbol, both included).
- Save the XML file
- Close the XML file and when prompted, confirm you want to reload the modified xml file into the xlsx archive.
Just want to drop a thankyou for this one. I knew how to do it like this but only by saving it as a zip etc. and going around the houses.
Good straight to the point tip with any easy explanation not often found on the internet.
Thanks.