For a variety of reasons, you might want to remove the password from an Excel workbook or worksheet that is password-protected. For instance, you might want to share the file with another person, allow unrestricted data editing, or create a copy of the file as a backup. With the use of this method, you might be able to delete the password or unprotect your Excel sheet for whatever reason.
Excel: How to remove Password or Unprotect the Sheet (2023)
Use the following workarounds to reset the password or unlock the Excel sheet:
1. From the Review Tab
The Excel file’s password can be removed by doing the following procedures if you know it:
a. On Excel with Microsoft Office 10 version
- Open the password-protected Workbook file and click the Review tab.
- Here, click the Passwords button under the Protection section.
- Now select all the contents in the Password to open dialog box and press the Delete button on your keyboard.
- Finally, click the Save button to unprotect the workbook.
b. On Excel with Microsoft Office 13 version
- Open the password-protected workbook and click the Review tab.
- Then click the Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook button.
- Now click the Unprotect Sheet and enter the password.
- This will automatically remove the password from your workbook.
2. Unprotect Workbook without a password
The instructions below will show you how to unlock an Excel sheet if you don’t know the password but have access to alter it:
- Firstly, make a copy of the Excel file and change the .xlsx extension to the .zip file extension.
- Then extract the contents of the zip file to a folder.
- In the folder, look for a subfolder named xl and open it.
- Then look for a file named workbook.xml and open it with Notepad.
- In the file, look for a tag that starts with workbookProtection without quotes and delete it.
- Now save and close the file.
- Then, go back to the folder and compress all the contents into a zip file again.
- Finally, change its extension back to .xlsx. without quotes.
- Now you have an Excel file that is no longer password-protected, and you can open it without any restrictions.
That covers every aspect of how to unlock the Excel sheet or erase the password. Visit our other guides as well, such as How to Add a Checkbox in Microsoft Excel or How to Add Error Bars in Microsoft Excel.