Excel remove password from file

This tutorial shows how to remove password from Excel file using multiple methods. Some methods work even if you don’t know the password.

Whenever you send out an Excel file that you don’t want to be changed, it’s essential to protect the worksheets with a password. However, you will also need to be able to remove the password if you want to make changes later on. In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Remove password from Excel file if you know the password
  • For PC users
  • For Mac users
• Remove password from Excel workbook if you forgot the password
• Remove password from Excel workbook using an Online Service (like password-find.com)
• Remove password from Excel workbook using a 3^rd Party Software

How to remove password protection from Excel workbook if you know the password

If you are the one who set the password or you were given the password to the Excel file via email, then you can follow a few simple steps to remove it.

Remove Excel spreadsheet password from the Info panel

1. Open the encrypted Excel file for which you want to remove the password.

2. Enter the Excel password and click OK.

3. On the upper left corner of the opened Excel spreadsheet, click the File tab.

4. In the left-hand panel, click Info and Protect Workbook to open the drop-down menu.

5. Select Encrypt with password in the drop-down list and delete the password that appears in the text field.

7. Delete the existing password and click OK.

6. Go to the File menu and click Save.

Remove Excel password from the Review tab

1. Open the encrypted Excel file for which you want to remove the password.

2. Enter the Excel password and click OK.

3. On the main ribbon menu of the opened Excel spreadsheet, click the Review tab. 

4. Click the Unprotect Sheet option and enter the password.

5. To remove the password from the workbook but keep it locked from editing, select Protect Sheet and click OK without entering a new password.

6. Go to the File menu and click Save.

Alternatively, you can unprotect the sheet and remove the password from the Home tab using the Format menu.

Remove Excel password using the Save As method

1. Open the encrypted Excel file for which you want to remove the password.

2. Enter the Excel password, and then click OK.

3. On the upper left corner of the opened Excel spreadsheet, go to the File tab and select Save as.

4. Select a folder, and a pop-up window will appear. 

5. Click Tools located at the lower right side of the window. Click the drop-down menu and select General Options.

6. The General Options dialog box will appear, which shows the encrypted passwords to open and edit the Excel file. Remove the passwords for both text fields and click OK.

7. Go to the File menu and click Save.

For Mac users

1. Open the Excel file for which you want to remove the password.

2. Enter the Excel password, and then click OK.

3. On the upper left corner of the opened Excel spreadsheet, click the File tab and select Passwords from the drop-down list.

4. The File Passwords dialog box will appear, showing the encrypted password to open and edit the excel file. Delete the passwords for both text fields, and then click OK.

5. Go to the File tab in the menu bar, and then click Save.

How to remove password from Excel workbook without the password

If you want to open an Excel file but don’t know the password, you can follow one of the below processes. You can also try using a 3^rd party software if other methods have failed.

Always create a backup copy of your Excel files before attempting to remove the password.

Converting an Excel file into a Zip file

Below you can watch a video that shows this process step-by-step. I have also listed all the steps needed to remove the protection of your Excel file without using any additional software.

Note: This method doesn’t work in all versions of Excel. Some say that it stopped working in Microsoft 365, but I’ve seen people complaining about Excel 2016 as well. If you can’t use this, try one of the other methods shown below.

1. Right-click on your document and convert the file by renaming the extension from “.xlsx” to “.zip”.

2. You will get a warning asking if you want to change it. Click Yes.

3. To extract the zip file’s contents, right-click on the file and select Extract All.

4. A window will appear showing the folder where the files will be extracted. Click Extract.

5. In the extracted file, open the “XL” folder.

6. Inside the “XL” folder, open the “worksheets” folder. 

7. You will see a list of XML files which are all your Excel worksheets within your password-protected Excel spreadsheet. The worksheets are listed as sheet1.xml, sheet2.xml, and so on.

8. To modify the XML file, open one XML file in notepad and search for a line with the word “protection”.

9. Select everything between and including these “<” and “>” characters and delete it.

10. Click the File menu in the notepad and click the Save button.

11. Repeat this process for every XML file within your Excel spreadsheet inside the “worksheets” folder. Make sure that all XML files are modified.

12. To add your modified XML files back into your zip file, go back to the extracted file and select all the files.

13. Right-click and select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.

14. This will create a new zip file. Rename the file extension from “zip” to “.xlsx”.

15. You will get a warning asking if you want to change it. Click Yes.

16. Open the Excel file.

You should now have access to view and edit the Excel data and information stored in your spreadsheet without typing the password.

How to remove password from Excel workbook using an Online Service

You can also use online services like Password-Find to remove passwords from your Excel spreadsheets. Unlike 3rd party software, most of these online services work on Mac, Windows, Android, Unix, and iOS.

Using Password-Find to remove Excel passwords

Please note that this is a paid service, and to get a full copy of your file after the password has been removed, you may need to purchase a license key.

Here’s a quick guide on using the Password-Find online service to recover or remove passwords from Excel files.

1. Go to https://www.password-find.com

2. From the home page, click Unprotect your file in the upper right corner.

3. In the file upload page, click Browse to select a file and click Next step.

4. In the next screen, you will find two options. To remove the Excel spreadsheet password, select the Remove password option. For the password recovery option, choose Find password.

5. Click Next step to remove the password or start the recovery. Removing a password or recovering it may take a while, depending on the password strength.

6. Once complete, you will see the result of the unprotection process. You will get a message when the password is recovered or deleted.

Other online password removal services you can try

If everything else has failed, it can be worth trying the additional services listed below:

• LostMyPass
• Password-Online
• Straxx Excel Password Remover

How to remove password from Excel workbook using a 3rd Party Software

Whether you remember the password or not, there is 3rd party software you can download and install on your computer to remove passwords from the Excel files. One of these tools is ISeePassword Dr. Excel.

Download the software from this link: https://www.iseepassword.com/online-help/excel-password-recovery.html

The nice part is that ISeePassword Dr. Excel can recover Excel passwords and remove worksheet/workbook protection without damaging the data and works with all versions of Excel files from 2003 to 2021.

Here’s a quick guide on how to recover or remove the workbook password using the ISeePassword Dr. Excel.

Recover open password

1. Open ISeePassword Dr.Excel from your computer, and click the Recover Open Password from the Excel option on the home screen.

2. Click the Add File button to import the password-protected Excel spreadsheet. Choose the type of attack from the given options: Dictionary Attack, Brute-Force with Mask Attack, and Brute-Force. Select Brute force with Mask Attack as the attack type. This method allows you to set several parameters to shorten the password recovery time.

3. Click the Settings button on the right side to set up the proper settings and click Ok.

4. Click Start to recover the Excel password.

A new pop-up window will be displayed once the password is retrieved.

5. Click Copy, and you should be able to open the Excel document with this password.

Remove the password from the Excel document

1. Open ISeePassword Dr.Excel from your computer, and click the Remove Workbook, Worksheet Password option from the home screen.

2. Click the Add File button to import the password-protected Excel file.

3. Click the Start button to remove the Excel password from the workbook.

4. Once the password has been removed, you will see a “Remove Finished” message.

Other 3rd party software you can use

If everything else fails, below is a list of additional software you can download and install to recover or remove passwords in Excel spreadsheets:

• PassFab for Excel
• iSunshare Excel Password Remover
• Passper for Excel

What to do next?

I hope that after reading this guide, you were able to remove the password from your Excel file. Some methods work better than others, and some may not work on Excel from Microsoft 365 subscription. However, if you have forgotten the password to your precious file, make sure to try the services shown in this tutorial. They could save you countless hours by recovering the open password without damaging your file.

And remember, it’s always wise to make a full backup of your Excel file before attempting to make any changes that could result in data loss.

As we all know, the Excel workbook is the product of MS Office programs. It supports the database through its spreadsheet programs. The best part of Excel is that it comes with numerous features for the users. Even the plus point is it offers password protection for the workbooks. So, if you want to protect your data, you can quickly set a password to secure the workbooks.

Moreover, the passwords assure no authorized access to the document. So, only the people who have the passwords can access the document. But, if you are the one who doesn’t want a password on the Excel workbook, and if you’re looking to know how to remove a password from excel, you’re here at the right place!

In this post, you’ll get to learn to remove excel password from the workbook. So, stick around.

Way 1: Remove Password via Excel Password Remover

As of today, excel is one of the most common products of MS Office that we all are using to create workbooks and gather data. It gives password encryption to protect our data. However, if it is not your thing and you don’t need it, you can easily remove the excel password with PassFab. You can use PassFab for Excel. It is one of the best Windows password recoveries and password reset tools. Also, the good thing is that it works 100% and is easy to use!

It is the case of a forgotten password, so this part has two parts. First, we’ll recover it, and then you will remove it from the excel workbook.

Recover Excel Password with PassFab

And it’s all done! PassFab for excel works best to remove or recover the excel password.

Remove Excel Password with PassFab

PassFab guarantees 100% success in removing the excel password without losing the original data! So, to remove the excel password, you need to follow the below-mentioned steps.

And it’s all done. You’ve successfully removed the excel password.

Way 2: Covert the Excel File to A Zip File

If you’ve forgotten your excel password, you can easily convert your excel files to zip files. A zip file takes up less storage space on your hard drive since it compresses the files. And you can quickly share the zip files with others or even transfer them to other devices. You can easily zip files in Windows directly from file explorer, and it doesn’t need any third-party tools. To convert excel files to a zip file; you need to do the following steps.

• Firstly, go to the folder “My documents” and search through the folders until you find the Excel file that you need to zip.
• Now, right-click on the file icon you want to zip.
• Click on the “Send To” option that pops up on the menu.
• And lastly, you need to select “Compressed Folder.”

So, you have now made a zipped file in the same folder. It will have a similar filename but with a “.ZIP” format as your excel file. Also, it is the default setting, but you can change it as per your choice.

Part 2: How to Remove Password from the Excel Workbook if knowing it

If you’re the one who may have to edit the data in the excel workbook and then you have to share it with your colleagues, you might need to know how to remove password from excel. So, let’s take a look into the following ways!

Way 1: Remove Password from “Review Tab”

To remove the Excel password from the review tab, you need to follow the following steps!

• Firstly, open the excel file, which has a password, and you need to remove it.
• Now put in the excel password and tap on the OK button.

• There, you’ll see a dialogue box, so click on the “Review Tab.”

  

• Then click on the option “Unprotect Sheet” and put in your password.

  

• Now, the excel workbook will no longer be password-protected but will remain locked from editing.
• Choose Protect Sheet and tap on OK without creating a new password.
• Lastly, go to the File menu and tap on Save, and it’s all done!

Also, using the format menu, you can even do this from the “Home Tab.”

Way 2: Remove Password via “Save Option”

While considering how to remove excel password, you can use this option, and you need to follow the following steps!

• Firstly, open the excel file, which has a password, and you need to remove it.
• Put in the excel password, and tap on OK.
• Now, on the top left corner of the excel workbook, go to the File menu and tap on “Save Option.”
• Then you need to choose a folder, and you’ll see a popup window on your screen.
• So, click on the “Tools” at the bottom right side of your screen.

• Now, tap on the drop-down menu and hit on general options.

  

• You will see a dialogue box, which shows your passwords to open and edit the excel workbook.

• Lastly, remove the passwords for both and then tap on OK.

  

You’re all done! Now, you can go to the File tab and tap on Save.

Final Notes

On the whole, we hope that this guide helps you with how to remove excel password. You can easily remove encryption from your excel workbooks. However, some methods work best as others, and some of them may not work on MS excel with 365 subscriptions.

So, if you have ever forgotten the excel password, don’t forget to use PassFab for excel. It will save your precious time by recovering the password without losing your data. You don’t need to be an IT expert to run this tool. And you can also install it on Excel to give you access to a document.

It is always a good idea to make a full backup of your Excel file before making any changes that might result in data loss.

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