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ddiesel52's avatar
ddiesel52
Copper Contributor
Mar 23, 2020
Solved

I have a password protected worksheet I do not remember the password for. How do I unprotect?

I have a password protected worksheet that I do not remember the password for.  How do I unprotect the sheet for editing?

 

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  • Savia's avatar
    Savia
    Mar 24, 2020
    Officially, there's no way to do this. There are some macros and services advertised out there that claim to break sheet protection, and some may do, but take caution before running unknown code on your workbook. There is no password recovery option built in to Excel.

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  • Abigail05's avatar
    Abigail05
    Brass Contributor
    May 11, 2020

    ddiesel52 

    You cannot open a password protected sheet without pasting in the password.

    There are tools that force open a sheet but they are not reliable to be used on your device.

    Unfortunately, you shall have to remember the password.

     

     

    Regards.

    Admin

    https://www.o365cloudexperts.com/

    • Kazwaymans's avatar
      Kazwaymans
      Copper Contributor
      May 11, 2020

      Abigail05 

      Hi my issue is similar to previous one, but I know I haven't password protected a sheet,  how do I unprotect it when its asking for password, to which I haven't got or ever had....

  • Renato1959's avatar
    Renato1959
    Copper Contributor
    May 11, 2020

    Dear all

    since i can' find an  easy solution  do i need to   copy-paste  my previous excel worksheet and create a new one  (unprotected)? 

    thanks  

  • Savia's avatar
    Savia
    Iron Contributor
    Mar 24, 2020
    Officially, there's no way to do this. There are some macros and services advertised out there that claim to break sheet protection, and some may do, but take caution before running unknown code on your workbook. There is no password recovery option built in to Excel.
    • ddiesel52's avatar
      ddiesel52
      Copper Contributor
      Mar 24, 2020

      Savia , 

      Thank you for the advice, however, I decided to make a copy of my original file to prevent against losing anything before I attempted to do it on my own.  After a search query related to the subject,  I found that I was able to work through a help screen to find a solution that actually worked.  I found a site that spoke about using a VBA code to unlock the password.

      It walked me through the steps fairly easily and I was able to copy the code right from the screen as instructed and paste it onto my own screen.  After running the code (I needed to do this a couple of times because I wasn't sure how to actually run the code on my computer at first) it actually provided me with a temporary unlock password, AAAAAAAAAA, which I used, and was actually impressed that it worked.

      I have since protected the sheet again and this time chose a unique password.  To remember it, I have typed in a hint outside of the spreadsheet that will help me next time I need to unlock the spreadsheet to update it (eg. my favorite teacher in high school). 

       

      Thanks again,

       

      Dave Diesel

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