Forgot excel workbook password? That is so annoyed. But if you want to solve this problem, you should know clearly which kind of password you have forgotten on Excel workbook. For example, excel workbook open password, modify password and structure protection password are three kinds of passwords that are usually used to protect excel workbook. Probably you have forgotten one of them or all of them. So now this article will talk about what we can do if forgot all kinds of excel workbook 2007-2016 password.
Case 1: Forgot Excel Workbook Password to Open | How to Recover
When you open an excel workbook, if a dialog pops up and asks you for a password to unprotect workbook, the password you need to enter is called open password. Once excel workbook open password forgot, you would lose access to excel workbook or excel file unless you can recover or remove forgotten excel password.
Part 3 - Recover Unsaved Excel File Using Mac Temporary Folder. There is a temporary folder of the Excel worksheet. This is where you recover unsaved Excel files. If you are using Excel 2016, it has the feature that even without saving, you will still be able to continue the Excel project from where you stopped. Re: Restore or reset Cell Styles Excel 2016 I'm having a similar issue. I have way to many styles in a workbook template we use at work and the cells are automatically.
Note: Surely you can try several possible passwords you ever use to check whether they are excel open password. But I think the most effective way still should be excel workbook password recovery or remove.
Forgot Password Microsoft Excel File
Method 1: Excel workbook password remove
If your excel workbook is xls file, iSunshare Excel Password Remover would be the best choice for you to instantly remove forgotten open password from excel workbook.
Method 2: Excel workbook password recovery
If excel workbook is saved as xls/xlsx file, iSunshare Excel Password Genius is recommended for you now because of its high efficiency, usability and safety.
It provides a trial version for users to have a free try, and with it, people can recover excel password not longer than 3 characters. When this version is not available for your excel workbook, please choose full version that can make excel password recovery successful with 100% guarantee.
Simple steps for excel workbook open password recovery
Step 1: Choose appropriate Excel Password Genius version and install it on computer.
Step 2: Click Open button, browse Excel workbook in computer and add it into Encrypted File box.
Step 3: In Type of recovery drop-down list, choose one password recovery type, and make detailed settings.
Generally, Brute-force and Mask are selected often. If you have no idea, Brute-force is suggested. About how to make detailed settings for every password recovery type you choose, please follow the article.
Step 4: Click on Start button to run password recovery program and recover excel file open password.
After excel open password is recovered, just copy it to open your password-forgotten excel workbook. Then you can reset a new excel workbook open password or remove excel workbook password.
Case 2: Forgot Excel Workbook Password to Modify | How to Remove
Forgot excel workbook modify password and cannot edit workbook and worksheet? How to do?
1. If only workbook modify password is forgotten, then everyone could easily remove it when workbook is open.
2. But if you forgot both open and modify password on excel workbook, probably that would be a little difficult for you, because you have to find forgotten password to open excel workbook at first and then you could remove forgotten modify password.
About how to recover excel workbook forgotten open password, please see method 2 in case 1. Now let's just see how to remove modify password when you could open excel workbook.
Tips: While you open excel workbook, besides open password, modify password is also asked. At this moment, just click 'Read Only' button instead of entering modify password. And workbook would be opened in read-only mode. (Eg. Excel 2010)
Step 1: Select FileSave as in Excel and open a Save as dialog.
Step 2: In Save as dialog, click Tools next to 'Save' button, and select General Options.
Step 3: Clear passwords that appear in box 'Password to open' and 'Password to modify'. And uncheck 'Read only recommended' if it is selected. Click OK.
Step 4: Make sure File name different from the name of opening excel workbook. Then click 'Save' button to save it as new excel workbook which is unprotected with open and modify password.
Case 3: Forgot Excel Workbook Structure Password | How to Unprotect
Password also could protect excel workbook structure. And it would be required if you want to adjust workbook window, rename worksheet, or remove sheet etc. When you know the workbook structure password, surely it is easy to remove the protection on workbook. But if you forgot it, I think you just could view the contents on workbook, unless forgotten workbook structure password comes to your mind suddenly or you find a utility that can unprotect excel workbook.
So now I just could tell you how to remove workbook structure password protection when you know the password.
Steps to remove password protection from excel workbook structure:
Step 1: Open Excel Workbook in Excel 2010.
1. Double click the excel workbook you want to unprotect workbook structure. If there is a dialog pops up, please enter workbook open password and click OK or press Enter.
If excel workbook open password forgot, recover it with method introduced in Case 1 first.
2. Then if there is another dialog to ask password for write access, it means workbook is also protected with modify password. Just enter it if you know, or click 'Read Only' when you forgot excel workbook modify password, in order to open excel workbook succesfully.
Step 2: Remove Workbook structure password protection.
Click Protect Workbook under Review tab, and type password in dialog box, click OK to remove protection.
Note: If you find excel worksheet is also protected, you would be required to unprotect worksheet at first, and then you can unprotect workbook structure. Click Unprotect Sheet under Review tab, and type password you have set to unprotect excel sheet if necessary.
At last, please press Ctrl + S to save the workbook. Now you have solved excel workbook password forgot problem in Excel 2007/2010/2013/2016.
Tips: If you feel above method is a little difficult when you forgot excel workbook password to modify or you cannot unprotect excel workbook structure because of password forgot, please think about iSunshare Workbook Unprotect Genius, which could help you to simplify it and unprotect excel workbook structure without password.
Related Articles:
'I previously protected an excel file with password but now I forgot the Excel password. My question is in a situation like this how can I unlock the file?'
Many people add passwords to the Excel files to restrict access or modification, but sometimes, it happens a lot that people forgot Excel password. This can be frustrating as a lot of users may lose valuable files. But you do not have to worry about that anymore. If you forgot Excel password, there are numerous ways you can do to unlock the Excel file, and in this article, we will introduce valuable methods that you can use to unlock Excel password.
Situation1. Unlock Forgotten Excel Password to Open the File
How to open a password protected Excel file if forgot password? If you are in such a situation, then try the 2 methods below.
1.1 The Best Method: Passper for Excel Password Unlocker
Passper for Excel Password Unlocker is the easiest and most effective tool when it comes to unlocking forgotten Excel password. It can unlock your Excel password without affecting the data in the file. This tool also has a high success rate as it uses powerful algorithms to unlock the password. Below are the main features of this Excel Password Unlocker.
It features 4 attack types namely Combination Attack, Dictionary Attack, Mask Attack and Brute Force Attack to shorten the recovery time and increase the success rate.
The tool is 100% working to unlock worksheets/workbooks within seconds without password.
It is easy to use. You can recover the forgotten Excel password as easy as 1-2-3.
Since it's a desktop application, you can unlock the Excel file on your computer. Therefore, your data privacy is 100% guaranteed.
It supports Microsoft Excel versions from 97 to 2019. And there is no limitation of the file size.
Passper is the sub-brand of the high-tech company iMyFone which is highly recommended by well-known media sites, including Macworld, Makeuseof, PC World, etc. It has also received positive customer reviews on Trustpilot. Therefore, this password unlocker is trustworthy to use.
You can check the simple steps below to unlock password protected Excel file:
Step 1 Launch Passper for Excel, and you will see the main user interface. Choose 'Recover Passwords'.
Step 2 Click on the '+' icon to add the excel file that you want to recover its password. Once you do this, you can choose one attack mode according to your own situation.
Step 3 You can now take a rest and wait for the recovery process to complete. The recovery time is closely related with the password complexity and the recovery type you choose. After the password is displayed on the interface, you can copy it to your encrypted Excel file and open it.
You can watch this video to know how the program works to recover opening passwords for Excel files.
1.2 The Common Method: Recover Forgotten Excel Password Online
If you do not want to install any third-party program on your personal computer, you can try to use an online recovery tool. It's definitely easy to unlock Excel password online, but it requires stable and powerful internet connection. What's more, it's worth mentioning that you need to upload your file to its server to proceed the recovery. We do not recommend you to use this method if your Excel file includes some sensitive information.
For the users who have powerful internet connection and don't mind uploading files, following steps will help you unlock your Excel files.
Step 1: Navigate to the official website of Password Online Recovery.
Step 2: Click on 'Upload your encrypted file' to upload your Excel file.
Step 3: After uploading, you need to input a valid email-address.
Step 4: Check your email box to activate the decryption process.
Step 5: Wait for the tool to recover the password for you. You will be notified through email once the recovery is over. The recovered password will be sent to you after payment.
Situation 2. Unlock Forgotten Excel Password to Modify the File
If you have set a password for unauthorized modifying but you have forgotten the worksheet/workbook password, you will be unable to make any changes to your workbook or sheet. If you are in this situation, you can remove this restriction with the methods below.
2.1 Unlock Password to Modify on All Excel Sheets in 1 Click
With Passper for Excel Password Unlocker that we mentioned above, you can unlock the password to modify in only one click even if multiple sheets are locked from modifying. Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1 Install and launch Passper for Excel Password Unlocker tool. Select the 'Remove Restrictions' on the main menu.
Step 2 Click on 'Select a File' to add the Excel worksheet you want to remove restrictions.
Step 3 Click on 'Remove' and the restrictions password will be removed within seconds.
Here is the video guide:
2.2 Unlock Excel Worksheet with VBA Code
The second method we will be looking at is using VBA Code. This method will only work for Excel 2010, 2007 and earlier version. If you forgot password of Excel 2013/2016/2019, please check other methods we introduced in this article.
Note
You have to know that this method is only effective with single sheets. If you have multiple sheets that you have forgotten their passwords, you will need to run the code for each sheet by opening them one after the other.
Step 1: Open the Excel File that you have forgotten the password.
Step 2: Press Alt key plus F11 on your keyboard and the VBA window will pop up.
Step 3: Click on 'Insert' from the Toolbar and select 'Module' from the options.
Step 4: Enter your VBA code on the VBA window.
Step 5: Press the F5 key, and the code will run.
Step 6: Wait for some minutes for the VBA code to crack the Excel password. A new pop up window will show up where you will find the password. Write it down and use it to unlock your worksheet.
2.3. Forgot Excel Password? Unlock Excel Password Using Zip
Microsoft Forgot Username
This method works for existing Excel files for 2007 and 2019 versions of Excel. Check out the steps below.
Step 1. Install 7-Zip or any other type of Zip compression tool such as WinRar on your PC.
Step 2. Use the compression to open the Excel file. Right-click on the file and select 'Open with WinRar or 7-Zip'.
Microsoft Excel Password Reset
Step 3. To remove password protection from your worksheet, navigate to 'xlworksheets'.
Step 4. Find the sheet that you have forgotten the password. Right click on it and choose the 'Edit' option.
Step 5. Press Ctrl+F to find the tag '<sheetProtection …>' and delete it.
Step 6. After deletion, save the file and close the editor. Now, your worksheet is unprotected.
2.4. Unlock Excel File without Software
If you prefer to unlock your Excel file without using any software, there is still another method for you. To avoid any data loss, create a backup of your Excel spreadsheet first then follow the steps below to unlock excel online.
Step 1. Open Google Drive and log in to your Gmail account. Click on the 'New' tab and select Google Sheets.
Step 2. At the lefft corner of the top of the screen, click on File and then Import.
Step 3. A dialog box will pop up; Click on 'Upload' and select a file from your device to upload the password-protected Excel sheet.
Step 4. After uploading your excel spreadsheet, select 'Replace Spreadsheet' and click on 'Import Data'. The protected Excel sheet will open in Google Sheets.
Step 5. Navigate to 'File' and click on 'Download As', then select 'Microsoft Excel'.
Step 6. After opening this new file, you will find your worksheet/workbook is not password-protected anymore.
Note
The uploading speed is truly slow and the loading process will be stuck if there are several worksheets in your Excel file. What's more, the new file you downloaded from Google Sheets will be in Protected View. You have to enable editing manually.
Tip: Is There Any Solutions If You Forgot Excel Password on Mac?
As you may see, the above solutions for Excel password recovery are mainly for Windows users. As a user of macOS, you may be wondering whether you can recover forgotten Excel password on Mac. Good news for you! We will make everything clear to you in this part. You can keep reading.
If you need to unlock the forgotten Excel password to modify your Excel worksheet or workbook, the above-mentioned methods like using VBA code and ZIP software can also work on macOS. However, if you want to recover the forgotten password to access your Excel file, there are only 2 working ways for you. The 2 methods are using the Keychain Access program or transfering your Excel file to a Windows computer and recovering the password with a tool like Passper for Excel.
Now, we will focus on how to recover forgotten Excel password on Mac with the Keychain Access program. You can follow the detailed guide below:
Step 1: Locate the 'Application' folder on your computer and open it. Then navigate to 'Utilities>Keychain Access'. Click to open it.
Step 2: Find 'Passwords' in the left panel of the Keychain Access program and click on it.
Step 3: You will see a 'Name' column at the top left of the program's main screen. Now, scroll down to find 'Excel' and click on it.
Step 4: A new screen will pop up. Check 'Show password' under the 'Attributes' tab. Another screen will appear and you need to enter the 'login' Keychain password.
Step 5: Press 'Allow' to continue. You will see the password in the 'Show password' box.
Conclusion
Recovering your forgotten Excel password does not have to be stressful or frustrating. There are a lot of effective methods through which you can unlock your Excel file, and the most recommended of all is the Passper for Excel Password Unlocker. You can use this tool for any versions of Excel. Get your copy of the tool today!!