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Apollofernie's avatar
Apollofernie
Iron Contributor
Nov 15, 2023

How can I unlock an Excel spreadsheet that is locked for editing?

Hello everyone,

 

I'm in a bit of a bind and need some help here. I have an Excel spreadsheet that is currently locked for editing, and I need to unlock the sheet to make some necessary updates. Unfortunately, I don't have the password, and the person who originally locked it is not available to provide it.

 

I'm looking for methods or tools that can help me unlock this spreadsheet.  Has anyone here faced a similar situation and found a solution? I'm open to suggestions. The spreadsheet is work-related, and I have the right to access and edit it.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Best regards,
Apollo

windows 10

5 Replies

  • Steve_Felix's avatar
    Steve_Felix
    Iron Contributor
    Nov 15, 2023

    I’ve been in the same spot with a locked Excel sheet at work—no password, and I needed to make edits ASAP. Dr..Excel ended up being a lifesaver; it unlocked the sheet quickly, letting me get on with my updates. Highly recommend giving it a try!

     

    I followed this tutorial (found my password successfully)

    https://www.gicmodo.com/unlock-an-excel-spreadsheet

     

  • bill-xu's avatar
    bill-xu
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 15, 2023
    Excel Workbook is a zip file, to unlock a protected sheet, I usually do following
    (1) use zip tools to open Excel workbook
    (2) find your sheet under path "xl\worksheets\", which shall be named by its sheetname with ".xml" suffix
    (3) use text editor open it and find a tag named "sheetProtection", memo the contents of the tag , delete it from the file
    (4) save the xml and replace it in your workbook using zip tools
    (5) you can edit the sheet freely
    (6) after editing, paste back "sheetProtection" using same approach above, the sheet will be protected by same password again (note, sheetprotection should be placed after </sheetData>)

    Note:
    this approach is not suitable for password protected workbooks, as they are encrypted zip files
    • Apollofernie's avatar
      Apollofernie
      Iron Contributor
      Nov 16, 2023

      bill-xu I renamed the .xlsx to .zip and managed to find the sheet1.xml from /xl/worksheets/. And only one .xml under this folder.

       

      However, when I opened sheet1.xml file,  there is no tag named sheetProtection. Only a sheetView tag shows up.

       

      P.S. This xlsx file was created by Excel 2019.

      • bill-xu's avatar
        bill-xu
        Copper Contributor
        Nov 16, 2023

        Apollofernie 

        this becomes a little complicated...

        there may be a tag has two attributes "algorithmName" and "hashValue", the tag's name could be "sheetProtection" or something else depending on the protection mode (maybe?).

        you can backup your file first and make a try.

        please note, excel workbook contains blob (binary data) in zip file which is not able to be repacked.

        so don't decompress its contents into flat files, just use zip tools to edit the file.

        winzip, 7zip, etc. can help you replace file inside a zip file without repacking it. (mean just dragging a file from outside into the zip file)

         

        here is a link about ms open spec for office documents in which sheetProtection is explained.

        https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/office_standards/ms-oi29500/15197a02-26f7-4a37-ab9c-7de4d4894ea5

         

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