Several ways in Excel to remove protection from a sheet or workbook

Information is perhaps the most valuable that is. Especially in the era of computer technology. That is why software developers provide their users with data encryption capabilities. The craftsmen from Microsoft, who added this very feature to all office suite programs, did not become an exception. However, after encryption, it is important not to forget the password in order to get the information back. This article will tell you how to remove protection in Excel, regardless of whether you blocked the book or sheet.

Unlock Methods

As mentioned earlier, you can block a workbook and a worksheet in Excel, respectively, the unlock method is different for them. Below they will be considered in more detail. In addition, I would like to highlight ways that involve removing Excel protection from a sheet or workbook when you forget the password. This will also be discussed at the end of the article.

Methods 1: unlock the book

First of all, we will analyze how to unlock the book directly, and then we will tell you how to remove sheet protection in Excel 2007.

1. If the book was password protected, when you try to open it, instead of the usual table editor interface, a window appears with a field for entering a password. It must be entered and click "OK."
2. The program itself will start. It is necessary to click on the "File" button.
3. A new menu opens, in which you need to go to the "Information" category.
4. A list of menu options appears on the right side. In it you need to select "Book Protection" and in the list that appears, select "Unprotect".
5. A window will appear that will resemble what appeared when the file was opened. You need to register a password in it to remove protection from the book.

After you need to save the changes, in simple words, just save the book. To do this, in the “File” tab, click on the “Save” or “Save As” line. In the second case, you will then need to specify the save location.

Method 2: unprotect a sheet

There is another way to block the contents of a document - sheet protection. In this case, the user can easily open the book and even view the contents of all sheets, he will only be prohibited from making adjustments to the table. If he tries to do this, a notification of the corresponding content will appear, announcing the need to remove protection from the sheet in Excel. Now we will consider in detail how to do this:

1. Open the protected file.
2. Click on the “Review” tab.
3. On the toolbar, click on the link "Unprotect from sheet", which is located in the group of tools "Changes".
4. A window will appear in which you must enter the code.
5. Enter the appropriate values ​​and click OK.

As soon as you do this, you will immediately see the whole range of possibilities for adjusting the table data.

Method 3: unlock by changing the file code

We figured out how to unlock a sheet if the special code is known, but how to remove protection from a sheet in Excel 2010 if you forgot your password? Fortunately, there is a way that does not even imply the use of third-party software. However, if the table you have has an .xls extension, you must transcode it to .xlsx. This is done as follows:

1. Open the xls file.
2. Click on the “File” tab.
3. In the sidebar, select Save As.
4. In the “Explorer” window that appears, go to the directory where you want to save the new document.
5. From the drop-down list “File Type” select the line “Excel Workbook”.
6. Click "Save."

After that, the file will have the desired extension and you can go directly to unprotecting the worksheet in Excel:

1. Open Explorer.
2. Go to the folder with the transcoded file.
3. Click on it with RMB and select "Open with" from the menu.
4. In the additional menu, select "Other Programs".
5. In a new window, select any archiver from the list. For example, WinZIP.
6. An archiver window will open in which you need to go to the “xl” folder, and then to “worksheets”.
7. The folder will contain files representing the pages of a book.
8. Run files in Notepad one by one.
9. With the file open, press Ctrl + F to call up the search for the document.
10. Enter the search term “sheetProtection”.
11. Find this phrase in Notepad and delete this parameter along with the value.
12. Save the changes made to the file.

You can run the file in Excel, now sheets previously locked are now available for editing.

Method 4: using third-party programs

In Excel, removing protection from a worksheet or from a workbook, if you forget the password, you can even easier - using special software. In this example, Accent OFFICE Password Recovery will be used.

Passwords protecting pages or books from changes are not strong; the program finds them instantly, regardless of the version of Excel. Its main feature is a quick search for a password to open an Excel file when it is lost and data is not available.

1. Launch the app.
2. Click the “File” button and select the “Open” option.
3. In the “Explorer” window that appears, go to the folder with the file, select it and click open.
4. A window appears with information about the file, click "Next."
5. In the second window, you will be asked to select the type of attack. It is recommended that you use the default script. Do this and click the "Next" button.
6. The process of restoring access to the file will begin. You can watch it at the bottom of the window.

After decoding is completed, all passwords will be removed from the document. The success of this operation depends on the complexity of the password that protects the document from opening.