How to remove Excel file opening password
If you want to remove the password prompt from an Excel file that you created and protected earlier, read on. In the following lines, in fact, you will find explained how to remove password opening excel file acting through the classic desktop version of the program available for Windows and macOS, its version online and its apps for smartphones and tablets.
From computer
If you want remove Excel password da computer, the first thing you need to do is to start Excel selecting the relevant collegamento that you find in Start menu di Windows or in Launchpad di MacOS. In case Excel is not installed on your PC, to cope with this you can follow the instructions I gave you in my guide on how to download Excel for free. Alternatively, you could also use an alternative program, such as LibreOffice, but in this case I will focus on the famous Microsoft software and not on other solutions, however valid.
Once the main Excel window is displayed on the screen, open the document you want to work on by clicking on the item apri present in the left sidebar and selecting it.
Subsequently, you will see a screen appear on the desktop through which you will be asked to enter the password set to protect the file: you type in the field Password, award your bottone OK and it's done.
Once the document is open, you can also stop being prompted for your password again. To do this, click on the menu Fillet located at the top of the Excel window, select the item Information from the left side of the program screen, click on the button Protect Workbook located on the right and select the wording Encrypt with password from the menu.
In the further window that you see appear at this point, delete the password used to protect the document that you find in the text field below the item Password and click on the button OK. Finally, save the changes made to the current file by clicking on the entry Save in the left menu or create a new copy of the file by selecting the option Save with name and indicating the location and name of the output document.
From the Web
If you have not installed Excel on your PC or in any case as an alternative to using the classic computer program you prefer to use Excel Online, the Web based version of the software working free of charge from any browser, go to the home page of the service and log in to your Microsoft account (if necessary), by clicking on the button appropriate and typing the required credentials.
Once logged in, click on the link Load and open on the right, select the spreadsheet present on your computer from which you want to remove the password and wait for the upload procedure to be completed.
After completing the above steps, you will see a window appear on the screen where you will be asked to type in the password set as protection for the file. Therefore, enter the latter in the text field adjacent to the item Password, click here OK And that's it.
As for the deactivation of the password request, I am sorry to inform you that using Excel online this is not feasible. You have to proceed from the PC program as explained above.
Give smartphone and tablet
If you don't have your computer at your disposal, you can also remove the Excel password from smartphones and tablets, using the Excel app for Android e iOS / iPadOS, free for all devices with dimensions equal to or less than 10,1 "(otherwise a subscription to Microsoft 365 is required, starting from 7 euros / month).
To do this, start the application by selecting the relevant one icon present on the home screen. If you have not already downloaded the app on your device, first take it from the relevant section of the Android Play Store (if you are using a device on which there are no Google services, you can contact alternative stores) and from the relevant section from the iOS / iPadOS App Store.
Once the main screen of the app is displayed, open the file of your interest by tapping on the icon with the folder located at the bottom right, by selecting the position in which the document is archived and then tapping on the file name.
After completing the above steps, a window will open in which you will be asked to enter the password used to protect the document. You enter it in the text field below the wording Enter the password to open the file, tap the button OK And that's it.
And if you are wondering how to disable the password request, I inform you that this is not possible by acting as a smartphone and tablet. In fact, the functionality useful for this purpose is not available, although password-protected Excel files can be both viewed and edited.
How to remove forgotten Excel password
If, on the other hand, what you're interested in doing is go to remove forgotten Excel password, you can evaluate to turn to the use of special script e third party programs, such as those indicated in the following lines, which allow you to find the access key set for the documents that are given to you "in meal" even if you have lost it.
The instruments in question can operate in two different ways: by attack Brute Force and by dictionary attack. In the first case, the tool used tries to identify the password set by trying all the possible combinations of letters, special characters and numbers, which is particularly effective for short access keys, while in the second case lists of known passwords are tested. included in special dictionaries, which is preferable in the case of weak access keys.
In all cases, however, it must be taken into account that the success of the operation depends primarily on the lunghezza and from complexity of the password set for the file. Consequently, I cannot assure you that using the tools listed below you will be able to "bring home" the desired result, but it is certainly worth a try.
VBA script (Windows)
If you have an Excel document that can be viewed and cannot be edited, i.e. that does not require a password to open and has one or more locked worksheets, you can bypass the obstacle using a simple VBA script running on operating systems Windows. The procedure works with documents created with Office 2010 and earlier versions, but not with those made using the most recent versions of the Microsoft suite.
To unlock an edit-protected worksheet, open it as normal with Excel, as I explained to you in the passage at the beginning of the guide and recalls theeditor in Visual Basic premendo the combination of tasti Alt + F11 on your computer keyboard.
In the window that opens, double-click on thespreadsheet icon present in the left sidebar (eg. Sheet1) and paste the following script in the white box that appears.
Sub PasswordBreaker () 'Breaks worksheet password protection. Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer, i3 As Integer Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer On Error Resume Next For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66 For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66 For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66 For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126 ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr (i) & Chr (j) & Chr (k) & _ Chr (l) & Chr (m) & Chr (i1) & Chr (i2) & Chr (i3) & _ Chr (i4) & Chr (i5) & Chr (i6) & Chr (n) If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then MsgBox "One usable password is" & Chr (i) & Chr (j) & _ Chr (k) & Chr (l) & Chr (m) & Chr (i1) & Chr (i2) & _ Chr ( i3) & Chr (i4) & Chr (i5) & Chr (i6) & Chr (n) Exit Sub End If Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next End Sub
At this point, click on the icon Play at the top (or press F5 on the keyboard) and wait for the confirmation message regarding the unlocking of the document to appear (eg. One usable password is XX). Once the processing is done, you will be able to freely edit your Excel document and save all changes made in it.
Another way to bypass passwords that prevent editing spreadsheets, only for files in XLSX format, you rename them by changing their extension to .zip, open them with a software for the management of compressed archives, such as the ones I reported to you in my review on programs to extract files and modify the file xlworkbook.xml deleting the line in which the wording is found workbookProtection da quest'ultimo.
If the file to be unlocked consists of multiple sheets, to obtain the same result, after renaming the document to .zip and having extracted the contents, you need to go to xlworksheets, select each of the sheets (ex. sheet1.xml, sheet2.xml etc.) and change the value sheetProtection sheet = "xx" in sheetProtection sheet = "".
In both cases, once you have completed the procedure by which to remove Excel passwords you should finally be able to freely modify the spreadsheet in question and save the changes made to it.
Passware Excel Key (Windows)
If you need to remove the Excel password for a document that is protected against unauthorized access, that is, that has a password when opening and if the document you need to intervene in was created with Office versions later than 2007, you can turn to the use of Passware Excel Key. This is a purpose-built software, available for operating systems only Windows and it is paid (the full version costs $ 39, while the unlocking of individual files costs $ 19), but you can download a free trial version with which you can find the first three letters of the passwords.
To download the program on your PC, go to its website and click on the button Download Demo that you find in the center.
Once the download is complete, open the .exe file of Passware Excel Key obtained and, in the window you see appear on the screen, click on the button Next. Then check the box next to the item I accept the terms in the License Agrement and click on the buttons Next (twice in a row), install e Yes, then complete the setup by pressing the button Finish.
Now that the main program window is displayed on the screen, click on the button Browse for file located at the top right and select the Excel file of your interest. Then click on the button Use Predefined Settings if you intend to use the default settings for password detection or on the button Run Wizard if you want to start the wizard for choosing the correct attack method and the dictionaries to use.
In conclusion, wait for the password identification process to be completed. If and when the password is identified, you will see a special message appear on the screen and you will be able to view the data in question.
Caution: put into practice the instructions contained in this guide only on your files, as bypassing the protection of Excel sheets that you do not own is an operation bordering on lawful. This guide has been written for informational purposes only, therefore I do not assume any responsibility for the improper use that you could make of the information contained therein.
How to remove Excel password
