How To Protect Worksheets and Unprotect Excel Sheet Without Password

How to protect worksheets and unprotect Excel sheet without password https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/2016/02/10/protect-unpro...
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H ow to protectand unprotectExcelsheetw ith or w ithoutpassw ord

Feb by Svetlana Cheusheva Excel,Exceltips,Exceltutorials 103 Com m ents
The tutorialshow s how to protectExcelsheetw ith orw ithoutpassw ords.Italso explains how to unlock
Excelspreadsheetw ithoutpassw ord ifyou forgotorm isplaced it.
W hen sharing your w orksheets w ith other people or sending your Excelles outside ofyour
organization,you m ay w antto preventother users from changing cells thatshouldn'tbe changed, Excel:featured articles
and also from m oving or deleting im portantdata in your w orksheetor w orkbook.
M erge m ultiple sheets into one
Luckily,Excelprovides a quick and easy w ay to lock a sheetor passw ord protectan entire Com pare 2 Excelles/sheets for
w orkbook to preventaccidentalor deliberate changes in their contents. dierences
Excelw orksheetprotection -the basics om pare 2 colum ns in Excelfor

m atches and dierences
H ow to passw ord protectan Excelsheet
M erge 2 colum ns in Excel
H ow to unlock Excelspreadsheet
M erge Excelrow s w ithoutlosing
H ow to unlock Excelsheetw ith passw ord
data
H ow to unprotectExcelsheetw ithoutpassw ord
ExcelIN D EX /M ATCH functions
H ow to protecta w orkbook in Excel instead ofVLO O KU P
U nlock a protected w orkbook H ow to identify duplicates in

Excel:nd,count,lter,and m ore
Passw ord protectan Excelle from opening
Change textcase to U PPERCASE,
Passw ord protecta w orkbook from m odifying
low ercase,Proper Case
CO N CATEN ATE in Excel:com bine

W hatyou need to know aboutExcelw orksheet textstrings,cells and colum ns
protection H ow to Vlookup to return

m ultiple m atches in Excel
W orksheetprotection in Excelis nota security feature.It's is notactually intended to prevent
3 w ays to rem ove spaces
people from accessing data in a passw ord-protected w orksheet.W hy? Because M icrosoftExcel
betw een w ords /num bers in
uses a very sim ple encryption algorithm for w orksheetprotection.Even w hen you protectyour
Excelcells
Excelw orksheetw ith a passw ord,thatpassw ord is very easy to break.
ExcelVLO O KU P tutorialfor
In older versions (below M icrosoftExcel2010),itdoesn'teven m atter how long and com plex your
beginners -syntax and form ula
passw ord is.Anyone w ho has atleastsom e basic know ledge ofVBA can crack itin m inutes (here's
exam ples
an exam ple ofthe VBA code thateasily cracks passw ords in Excel2010 and low er versions).
H ow to rem ove em pty row s in
The recentversions ofExcel2013 and 2016 use m ore sophisticated m ethods ofsheetprotection, Excel
butthey are also vulnerable and can be unlocked w ithoutknow ing a passw ord.In other w ords,if
CO U N TIF in Excel-countifnot
som eone really w ants to getaccess to a protected sheet,they w ill.
blank,greater than,duplicate or
So,does this m ean thatExcelw orksheetprotection is absolutely pointless? N otatall!Itm akes unique
sense to lock Excelsheets to avoid accidentalchanges in the sheetcontents.A com m on exam ple
is Locking form ula cells to preventinadvertenterasure or m odication ofform ulas. O utlook:featured articles
The bottom line is -lock an Excelspreadsheetto preventother users from accidentally tam pering M erge duplicate contacts in
w ith your data,butnever store sensitive inform ation in your Excelsheets. O utlook
Rem ove duplicate em ails in

Ifyou strive to ensure the m axim um security protection for your Excelles,be sure to do allof
O utlook quickly and safely
the follow ing:

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exam ple by using our passw ord generating tool.
3. Protectthe w orkbook structure to preventother people from adding,m oving,renam ing,

Excelform ulas
deleting or unhiding your sheets. Excelfunctions
4. For w orkbook-levelsecurity,encryptthe w orkbook w ith dierentpassw ords from opening and ExcelPivotTables Excelcharts
m odifying.
ExcelVlookup
5. Ifpossible,store your Excelles w ith sensitive inform ation in a secure location,e.g.on an Excelduplicates
encrypted hard drive.
M erge data in Excel
Excelform atting
H ow to protectExcelsheet Excelconsolidation Exceldate
Exceltim e Exceltutorials
To protecta sheetin Excel2016,2013 and 2010,perform the follow ing steps.
Exceltips G oogle Sheets
1. Rightclick a w orksheettab atthe bottom ofyour screen and selectProtect Sheet from the
G oogle Docs O utlook duplicates
contextm enu.
O utlook tem plates Video
O r,clickthe Protect Sheet button on theReview tab,in the Changesgroup.
Sign in
Register
Log in
2. In the ProtectSheetdialog w indow ,do the follow ing:
To passw ord protect your Excelsheet,type a passw ord in the corresponding eld.Be sure
to rem em ber the passw ord or store itin a safe location because you w illneed itlater to
unprotectthe sheet.
Ifthe w orksheetprotection is nothing m ore than a precaution againstaccidental

m odication ofthe sheetcontents by yourselfor by the m em bers ofyour localteam ,you
m ay notw antto bother aboutm em orizing the passw ord and leave the passw ord eld
em pty.In this case,unprotecting the sheettakes justa single click on the UnprotectSheet
button on the ribbon or in the sheettab's right-click m enu.
Select the actions you allow the users to perform .
By default,the follow ing 2 options are selected:Selectlocked cells and Selectunlocked cells.If
you leave only these tw o options selected,the users ofyour sheet,including yourself,w ill
be able only to selectcells (both locked and unlocked).
To allow som e other actions such as sorting,ltering,form atting cells,deleting or inserting

row s and colum ns,check the corresponding boxes.
Ifyou don'tcheck any action,users w illonly be able to view the contents ofyour Excel
sheet.
Click the O K button.

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D one!
H ow to unprotectExcelsheet
As you have justseen,it's very easy to passw ord protecta sheetin Excel.U nprotecting a
spreadsheetis even easier,provided thatyou know the passw ord.Though,unlocking an Excel
spreadsheetw ithoutpassw ord is no big dealeither :)
H ow to unprotectExcelsheetw ith passw ord

Ifyou know the passw ord for the protected sheet,rem oving protection is a m atter ofseconds.
Justdo any ofthe follow ing:
Right-click the sheettab,and selectU nprotect Sheet from the contextm enu.
O n theReview tab,in theChangesgroup,clickU nprotect Sheet.
O n theHom etab,in the Cellsgroup,click Form at,and selectU nprotect Sheetfrom the drop-
dow n m enu.

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H ow to unprotectExcelsheetw ithoutpassw ord

As m entioned in the beginning ofthis tutorial,Excelw orksheetprotection is quite w eak even in the
recentversions ofExcel2013 and Excel2016.Ifyou need to edita passw ord protected sheetbut
you cannotrem em ber the passw ord,try to unlock thatExcelspreadsheetby using one ofthe
follow ing m ethods.
U nlock Excelspreadsheetw ith VBA code (for Excel2010 and low er)
Ifyou are using Excel2010 or older version,you can unlock a passw ord-protected sheetw ith the
follow ing m acro.
1. Press Alt+ F11 to open the VisualBasic Editor.
2. Right-click the w orkbook nam e on the leftpane (Project-VBAProjectpane)and selectInsert>

M odule from the contextm enu.
3. In the w indow thatappears,paste in the follow ing code:
Sub PasswordBreaker() ?
'Breaksworksheetpasswordprotection.
Dim iAs Integer,jAs Integer,kAs Integer

Dim lAs Integer,mAs Integer,nAs Integer
Dim i1As Integer,i2As Integer,i3As Integer
Dim i4As Integer,i5As Integer,i6As Integer
On Error Resume Next
For i=65To 66:For j=65To 66:For k=65To 66

For l=65To 66:For m=65To 66:For i1=65To 66
For i2=65To 66:For i3=65To 66:For i4=65To 66
For i5=65To 66:For i6=65To 66:For n=32To 126
ActiveSheet.UnprotectChr(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"Oneusablepasswordis" &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
4. Press F5 or click the Run button on the toolbar and w aita couple ofm inutes.The m acro w ill
reporta cracked passw ord,w hich is notthe originalone (alw ays som e com bination ofA's and
B's),butnevertheless itw orks.
Ifyou are notvery com fortable w ith VBA,you can nd the detailed guidance in the follow ing
tutorial:H ow to insertand run VBA code in Excel.
Ifyou need to unprotectExcelsheetw ithoutpassw ord in the m odern versions ofExcel2013 and
Excel2016,try one offree tools,for exam ple Passw ord Protection Rem over add-in for Excel.
Copy the protected sheetcontents to another w orksheet

Another w ay (or rather a w orkaround)to unlock an Excelsheetthatw as protected w ith passw ord
is to copy its entire contents to a new sheet.H ere's how :
1. O pen the passw ord-protected sheet.
2. W ith the cursor positioned in cellA1,press Shift+ Ctrl+ End to selectallused cells in the
w orksheet.
3. Press Ctrl+ C to copy the selected cells.

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N otes:
This m ethod w orks only ifthe Selectlocked cells and Selectunlocked cells actions are allow ed in
the protected spreadsheet.
Ifthe passw ord-protected w orksheethas externallinks to other sheets or w orkbooks,you

m ay need to re-create those links m anually.
You can use Paste Specialto copy /paste the colum n w idths so you w on'tneed to adjustthem
in the new sheetm anually.
H ow to protecta w orkbook in Excel

Apartfrom protecting the sheetcontents,you m ay also w antlock the entire w orkbook to prevent
users from adding,m oving,renam ing or deleting w orksheets,and view ing hidden sheets.
To protectthe w orkbook,perform the follow ing steps:
1. O n theReview tab,in theChanges group,clickthe Protect W orkbook button.
2. U nderProtect w orkbook for,selectone ofthe tw o options,or both:
Check theStructure box to protectthe structure ofa w orkbook.This w illpreventthe

follow ing actions:
View ing hidden w orksheets.
Renam ing,m oving,hiding or deleting sheets.
Inserting new sheets and chartsheets.H ow ever,users w illbe able to inserta chartin an
existing w orksheet.
M oving or copying sheets to another w orkbook.
Check the W indow sbox to retain the size and position ofw orkbook w indow s.This w ill
preventusers from m oving,resizing,m inim izing,or closing the w orkbook w indow s.
N ote.The W indow s option is notavailable (greyed out)in Excel2013 and Excel2016,as

show n in the screenshotabove.Itis because M icrosoftintroduced the Single D ocum ent
Interface in Excel2013,w here each w orkbook has its ow n top-levelw indow thatcan be
m inim ized,restored,and closed.
3. In the Passw ord box,type a passw ord,and click the O K button.

As indicated on the dialog w indow ,a passw ord is optional.H ow ever,ifyou do notenter a
passw ord,then anybody w illbe able to unlock your w orkbook w ith a button click.
4. Retype the passw ord in the Con rm Passw ord w indow and click O K.That's it!
H ow to unlock a protected w orkbook in Excel

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2. Type the passw ord ifprom pted.
3. Save the w orkbook.
Im portant note!Protecting the w orkbook structure should notbe confused w ith w orkbook-
levelpassw ord encryption thatcan preventother users from opening or/and m odifying your
w orkbook.Ifyou are interested in this levelofw orkbook protection,check outthe next
sections ofthis tutorial.
Passw ord protectExcelw orkbook from opening

Ifyou store your w orkbooks in a shared location such as a com pany localnetw ork,and you w ant
to preventother users from view ing your Excelles,you can encryptyour w orkbook w ith
passw ord thatw on'teven letother people open it.
1. In the w orkbook you w antto encrypt,click File > Info,click the ProtectW orkbook button,and
selectEncrypt w ith Passw ord in the drop-dow n m enu.
2. The EncryptDocum entw indow w illappear,you enter a passw ord in the Passw ord box,and click
O K.
.
By default,M icrosoftExceluses AES 128-bitadvanced encryption,and you can supply a

passw ord up to 255 characters.
3. Retype the passw ord in the Reenter passw ord box,and click O K.
4. Save your w orkbook.
To rem ove the w orkbook encryption,repeatthe above steps,delete the passw ord from the

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Passw ord protectExcelw orkbook from m odifying

Ifyou don'tm ind other users opening your Excelle butyou w antto preventthem from m aking
any changes to your w orkbook,perform the follow ing steps.
1. In your Excelw orkbook,click the Save As button,and then click the Tools button atthe bottom
ofthe w indow .
2. In the Tools drop-dow n m enu,selectG eneralO ptions.
3. In the GeneralO ptions dialog w indow ,type a passw ord in the Passw ord to m odify box.
Additionally,you can selectthe Read-only option,w hich is recom m ended.
Tip.Ifyou w antto protectyour Excelle both from m odifying and opening,type the
passw ords in the Passw ord to open and Passw ord to m odify boxes.Itcan be the sam e
passw ord oftw o dierentones.
4. Retype the passw ord in the Conrm Passw ord dialog,and click O K.Ifyou've entered 2
passw ords in the previous step,you w illbe asked to conrm both.
5. Finally,click the Save button in the Save As dialog.
To rem ove the passw ord protection,repeatthe above steps,and delete the passw ord(s)from
the Passw ord to open and Passw ord to m odify boxes.Then click the Save button to save your
w orkbook.
This is how you can protectan Excelsheetand lock the entire w orkbook from changing or
opening.H ow ever,som etim es you m ay notw antto go thatfar and rather lock only certain cells in

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H ow to create form ulas in Excel
M icrosoftExcelform ulas w ith exam ples
H ow to display form ulas in Excel
H ow to copy form ulas in Excel
H ow to hide and lock form ulas in Excel
H ow to edit,evaluate and debug form ulas in Excel
Excelform ulas notw orking,notupdating,notcalculating
103 Responses to "H ow to protectand unprotectExcelsheet

w ith or w ithoutpassw ord"
1 A CHUM AN KUM AR PATRO says:
April25,2016 at1:02 pm
how to unprotected the w ork book w ithoutany passw ord,ifpassw ord is forget
Reply

April26,2016 at5:48 am
how to unprotected the w ork book ifpassw ord is forget.
Reply
Svetlana Cheusheva says:

H i!
Ifyo are using Excel2010 or earlier,you can unprotected the w orkbook w ithoutpassw ord
by using this script.
For Excel2013 or 2016,you can use one offree passw ord protection rem overs,for exam -
ple this one:
http://w w w .spreadsheet1.com /passw ord-protection-rem over-free-o ce-excel-add-
in.htm l
Reply
Yogesh Garg says:

July 29,2016 at9:52 am
how to unprotected the w ork book w hich is in a form atm ade by others.
Reply

w ithoutany softw are can w e have unprotected w orkbook
thanks for cooperate w ith m e
Reply
4 chisom israelonah.says:
M ay 2,2016 at8:04 am
its aw esom e.....itw orked perfectly w ell
Reply
5 Rajesh says:
M ay 18,2016 at4:40 pm

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8 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
should ask for passw ord please help as early as possible or is there any other w ay to solve
m y problem
Reply
6 Anonym oussays:
M ay 19,2016 at9:37 am
H ow can preventother from copying a protected w orksheet
Reply
7 John Giesen says:

M ay 19,2016 at12:46 pm
W hen Ifollow your instructions,w hich are very good,w hen iclick on protectw orkbook,the
drop dow n w indow opens butnothing is clickable? Any thoughts as to w hy these options
w on'tw ork for m e? Also,on the tools drop dow n,the only line thatcan be com pleted is the
second line,the rstline w on'tallow m e to putin a passw ord,after Igo to "save as"and select
the le.
John
Reply
8 w am isays:
June 7,2016 at10:05 pm
w orked like charm ,

saved m any hours oftrouble.
Very m uch appreciated.
Reply
9 N ath says:
June 29,2016 at11:28 pm
can you save the passw ord as textin the VBA code so ifyou forgetyou can easily nd w ithout
running your sciptabove?
Reply
Am itsays:
August4,2016 at6:45 pm
yes,w rite itin the com m ents :)
'Passw ord goes here
Reply
10 Azazelsays:
July 3,2016 at8:14 am
Aw esom e.Itw orks perfectly!
Reply
11 dave haine says:

July 7,2016 at10:49 pm
D oesn'tw ork in excel2016,despite them saying itdoes
Reply
12 Rachelsays:
July 11,2016 at8:59 am
Ihave notforgotten m y passw ord,butallunprotectsheetaccess is nothighlighted therefore

can notclick on to enter m y passw ord.
Ihave also tried entering your VBA code,butw hen rightclick a box appears stating "Projectis

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N ikkisays:
M arch 1,2017 at11:47 pm
Iam having the sam e issue and w ould love to nd resolution.Ihave severalw orksheets
thatare now greyed outfrom allow ing m e to highlightand release the protection.H elp!
Reply
Vanessa says:
April17,2017 at12:47 pm
Sam e thing happened to m e...check ifthe w orkbook is shared,Ithink thatis the prob-
lem ,you have to un-share it.G o to the Review tab and under the Changes group,click
Share W orkbook.Clear the Allow changes by m ore than one user atthe sam e tim eop-
tion.O nce you rem ove thatoption,itshould allow you to enter the passw ord.H ope it
w orks for you ;)
Reply
13 RahulBhoye says:
July 27,2016 at10:41 am
Thanks!!!!!
Reply
14 Hitesh Pandav says:

July 28,2016 at11:32 am
Tham ks.
Ihave Solve m y problem to guide m e.
Reply
15 w ayne says:
H iH ow to protectcertain row s/colum ns only in excel(w here m y form ula w illnotbe editable).
Thanks
Reply
16 John Alvessays:
August8,2016 at6:56 am
hi,
do you have a solution for 2016 please
thanks
Reply
17 pratik says:
thanks for this it's really w ork properly.Fantastic
Reply
18 jacksonlim bozsays:
Excelle passw ord breaker toolis available to rem ove lostpassw ord from Excelle.This ap-
plication enables to open locked W ord and Access le passw ord also w ithoutany obstruction.
Reply
19 Evan says:

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10 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
20 Angelsays:
Septem ber 9,2016 at3:34 am
Am azing!Thank you!Though Idonthave a passw ord to a w orksheet,Iunlocked the w ork-

sheet.
Reply
21 godfrey says:
how can iun protectm y 2007 excelsheet
Reply
22 Ivan says:
Thanks very m uch!Itw orked for m e!
Reply
23 gandhim arule says:

hello,
ihave hyperlinks to dierentsheets in m y excelw orkbook,butiw antto passw ord protect
them i.e.people cannotclick and go to thatparticular sheet...how do ido it? or alternatively a
w ay ofhiding sheetonly ifyou have a passw ord can you open the sheet...how do ido it?
Reply
24 SPO RK says:
Septem ber 20,2016 at2:25 pm
VBA is also passow ord protected so cannotinsertm odule.
Reply
25 dan says:
D ear sir,
Ihave protected shared Exceldoc.Ido notknow the passw ord,how can Irem ove the protec-
tion?.
Thanks
Reply
26 M rD says:
Try the instructions above itw orks
Reply
27 Boke says:
O ctober 7,2016 at5:06 am
H i,
ihave setExcelle(.xlsm )Passw ord protection from m odifying (!!)and allow ed to open the
le as read-only.H ow ican use VBA m acros to determ ine thatpassord protection from m odi-
fying is setor notbefore the le saving.
And how ican w rite in VBA m acros to unprotectand protectagain exactly for m odifying only ?
Reply
28 arifbhatisays:
O ctober 14,2016 at6:17 pm

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11 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
29 N itin says:
Thankx so m uch.iforgetm y passw ord ifyou don'thelp m e m y data w illbe loss

thankx again sir
Reply
30 N IRAN JAN says:

Aw esom e!!Itw orked!N ever knew w e could unprotectexcelsheets so easily.
Reply
31 Philip says:
Idon'tthink the VBA scriptw orks to unlock a passw ord protected w orkbook in W indow s 10
w ith Excel2010.Pressing Alt-F11 doesn'taccess a listofw orkbook les.
Reply
32 RJsays:
Ihave tried this severaltim es w ith greatluck.Inow have an old w orkbook from lastyear.The
code w orks on som e sheets butnotallofthem .
Italso looks like there are som e sheets Icannotsee
This is in w indow s 7 w ith Excel2013.
Any advice w ould be greatly appreciated
Reply
33 dagm id says:
H ithere,
thank you for your advice.ifVBAProjecthas protected how can irem ove passw ord.
N am e is notXLSX.XLSM
H ow to rem ove VBAProjectpassw ord?
Thank you.
Reply
34 Abik says:
N ovem ber 5,2016 at11:39 am
good job guys
Reply
35 G says:
N ovem ber 11,2016 at4:26 pm
Ifthe le is on a server thathas a rights m anagem entsystem you can also selectpeople from
the address book to have read only access
Reply
36 Yganesh Thakersays:
its w orking tx guys
Reply

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12 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
Reply
38 Um esh says:
Its W orking..............
Thank you very M uch
Reply
39 Rijo says:
D ear friend,
w hile iam trying RU N ...getting the error m essage of
Com pile error:

Invalid outside procedure
pls help
Reply
40 Kelly says:
D ecem ber 1,2016 at12:26 pm
itdidntw ork...w hen Iclicked run,itshow s

"Com pile error:"
Expected:N ew or type nam e
pls H elp!
Reply
41 Vasanth KS says:
H i,
It's really helpfulon this regards!

Thank you so m uch!
Reply
42 Bobby says:
D ecem ber 7,2016 at10:14 am
m an,ilike your Passw ordBreaker.very great!thanks a lot.
Reply
43 Jam essays:
Very good articles.Itw orks very w ell.Thank you very m uch.
Reply
44 N alinisays:
This link really helps!Thank you so m uch..
Reply
45 Andy says:
O M G ,you saved m e hours and hours ofw ork.This VBIscriptw orked like a charm ....thanks
so m uch.
y

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13 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
colum ns and cells on on the various w orksheets.The protection did notseem to be w orking
on a couple ofthe w orksheets and Iw as experim enting trying to getitto w ork.N ow Ihave
severalfunctions(Protect& unprotectw orksheet,protect& unprotectw orkbook,allow users
to editranges)highlighted in red and notfunctioning a all.H ow do Icorrectthis?
Reply
47 Ade says:
January 2,2017 at10:27 pm
Ihave a protected w orksheetand for gotthe passw ord.The VB scriptis notresponding w hen
irun the scripton m y excel2010.ithangs and ihave to go into w indow task m anager to end
the run.H elp
Reply
48 Sharm a says:
January 3,2017 at5:15 am
H ow to perm anently protectan excelsheetso thatothers cantlook atthe VBA functions? Is

there a w ay? Iw ould like the hours ofw ork putinto m y sheetto be protectfrom others for-
ever!
Seem s the passw ord protection can be easily broken.Please letm e know .
H elp!!
Reply
49 Em m a Jakssays:
Thanks for this inform ation.
Reply
50 Derek K says:
Thanks for the info.Ithelped m e a lot.
Reply
51 W ojciech M arusiak says:

Itw orked like a charm .Thanks a lot.
Reply
52 Anne says:
H I,
Iam w orking on a tem plate thatis w orkbook protected.Ican'trecallthe passw ord and ineed
to change the nam e ofa sheet.Please assist.Excel2016
Thanks.
Reply
53 Joey A.says:
Ihave to say,this is totally aw esom e!IRARELY leave com m ents like this,butIw ould recom -
m end this to anyone w anting to protector unprotectexcelsheets!Thank you guys so m uch!
:)
Reply
54 M axw ellsays:

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14 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
55 Rajsays:
Itried the above steps butthe excelis notresponding even after w aiting for 30 m ins.
Reply
56 N isarsays:
W ow !VB is w orking ,You m ade m y w ork easy,G od bless you.
Thank you so m uch.
Reply
57 Aaron De Jesussays:
TH AAAAN KKKKKKKKKK YO U U U U U U U U U U U U U SO O O O O O O O M U U U U U U CH H H H H H H H H H I'M

REALLY TH AN KFU L TH AT TH ERE ARE PEO PLE LIKE W H O EVER W RO TE TH IS IN FO RM ATIO N ,
W ILLIN TO H ELP O TH ER SH ARIN G TH EIR KN O W LED G E!!!
Reply
58 ZAM EER says:

Really Itis G reat.You are really aw esom e.Thank you soo m uch.
Reply
59 Joseph says:
February 7,2017 at3:59 pm
Ihave attendance sheetw hich is notallow ing m e to editm ay be passw ord protected and
don'thave the passw ord please help
Reply
60 Am brica Jsays:
February 8,2017 at1:52 am
Frickin lifesaver!Thank you!
Reply
61 ratish says:
iforgetpassw ord ofm y excelsheetreply as soon as posible
Reply
62 Rex says:
February 20,2017 at10:22 pm
Aw esom e.w orked like a treat.Thanks
Reply
63 Je says:
W e use Excel2010 atw ork for schedules.The w orksheets containing w ork schedules are pro-
tected from changes by em ployees w ith only m anagers having passw ord access.O ur issue is
thatoccasionally w hen em ployees go in to view the spreadsheetthe le becom es "locked for
editing"by the em ployee.M anagers can'tgetin to m ake changes.Even ifthe em ployee signs
in again,they often getthe sam e m essage (thatthe le is locked for editing by TH EM SELF).W e
are interested in preventing em ployees from being able to place the le in read only status at
all,and secondly how do w e getaround the read only status w hen an em ployee (w ho doesn't

Able
easy
15 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
64 PREM AL JO SHIsays:
M arch 5,2017 at10:26 am
TH AN KS A LO T
IT W O RKS IT SAVE M Y LO TS O F TIM E
TH AN KS AG AIN
PREM AL JO SH I
Reply
65 jayeshkum arsays:
M arch 7,2017 at7:37 pm
good and better im form ation

iproud to use itsoftw are
very very nice
Reply
66 nursays:
M arch 15,2017 at7:03 am
your inform ation is realy helpfull..Ifaced problem w ith m y ow n excell..as iam inserting data,
excelstoped w orking and restart..suddenly itbecom e protected sheetand cannotdo any-
thing to editit..iam atm y end because w hatto do,Ido notprotectthe sheetand even have
the passw ord to startw ith!!!!
Luckily Ifound outw ays to unprotectsheeteven w ithoutpassw ord..N ow can sm ile happily!!!
Thank you Author.
Reply
67 Ram eshkum arsays:

M arch 19,2017 at5:52 am
Its aw esom e.
butihave protected 1 le.to open thatle ineed to give passw ord.

Readonly option is notthere,atthattim e w hatineed to do.
how to open thatexcellle ???????
Reply
68 Shreepad M Gandhisays:
M arch 30,2017 at8:53 am
Thanks.
Itw orked justas expected.
Reply
69 M onciarRosim a says:
Thanks for the guide,easy to understand and do,w orks perfectly.
Reply
70 M ike says:
To unprotectsheetin Excel2013 le (.xlsx)justsave the le as excel200-2003 (.xls).Then you

can brake the sheetw ith VBA code.W orks great!:)
Reply
71 steve says:

Able
easy
16 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
72 Em m a says:
April21,2017 at12:44 pm
Thank you!Justsaved m e from a very aw kw ard conversation!
Reply
73 Bob says:
Is there a w ay to unlock a le w hich is protectw ith passw ord? (Im ean w hen the entire le is
protected).Itried using the VBA code and itonly w orked w hen partofthe w orkbook is pro-
tected.
Thank you!
Reply
74 RAFIQ ABDUL says:

M ay 15,2017 at6:50 pm
Svetlana,
Thank you very m uch for the VB editor instruction,Iw as able to follow and rem ove the PW .I
w illbookm ark this site for future use.
Reply
75 shaw n says:
M ay 20,2017 at8:20 am
TH AN KS SO O O O O O O O O O O O O O M U CH ....
Reply
76 Fahad says:
M ay 23,2017 at7:56 am
H i,Itried the code on excel2013.

Everything seem ed ok butw hen Ipress "f5"itstarts w orking and w ithin seconds itsays notre-
sponding and Ican'tdo anything on excel.
Please help.
Reply
77 Veeresh says:
M ay 26,2017 at4:49 pm
Thanks a lot
Reply
78 M eriam says:
June 19,2017 at4:13 pm
Am azing!thank you so m uch
Reply
79 Saurabh says:
June 21,2017 at6:35 am
This is sim ply am azing...Iam aw estruck w ith the vba code thatitunprotected the sheet.I
w antto m aster vba butneed a perfecttraining program and how can Iw rite com plex codes
to m ake m y w ork m ore sim pler...Please advise.O nce again Thank you very m uch.
Reply
N atalia Sharashova (Ablebits.com Team )says:

June 21,2017 at2:09 pm
H ello,Saurabh,

Able
easy
17 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
Reply
80 Ajay Kum arsays:

July 5,2017 at3:54 pm
This is Am azing.really help full,your are x-m an.O nce again Thank you very m uch.
Reply
81 Lahiru says:
July 26,2017 at2:47 am
Thankxxx This is w orking...!!!!!
Reply
82 Antony Shajisays:
H i,insertm odule in greyed out.
Reply
83 Dw ayn says:
Thanks for this excellentw rite up.Thank you for sharing.
Reply
84 Sharm ila says:

Thanks m uch..Ithelped..M uch appreciated.
Reply
85 Sam says:
Iw orked ne.Thanks.M uch love from N am ibia (y)
Reply
86 cuong says:
H i,thanks for suporting
Reply
87 M O HD BAHAUDDIN says:
dear sir
please guide m e for shortcutform ula for protected to unprotected under excel
Reply
88 Ben says:
Is there a w ay for one to unprotecta w orkbook ifthe entire w orkbook has been passw ord
protected/disabled,including the ability to insertVBA m odules? I'm only interested in being
able to view the m acros being used,and not*necessarily* the ability to m odify the coding,it-
self.
Reply
89 AKDSJF says:
Septem ber 1,201 at12 36 pm

Able
easy
18 of 19 9/24/2017, 7:08 PM
90 rhein na says:
Itw orks!!!thank you!
Reply
91 Hitesh says:
its aw esom e.....itw orked perfectly w ell
Reply
92 Abdulfazith says:
Iused the code for in protecting w ithoutpassw ord.Its w orking.Thanks..
Reply
93 sandeep says:
H i,
In m y w orkbook there are som e sheets w hich are protected and hidden.Iforgotthe pass-
w ord justw antto know how to retrieve those sheets.
Reply
94 AN SHIL SHAKYA says:

Thanks Sir .
Reply
Posta com m ent

N am e
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Send
U nfortunately,due to the volum e ofcom m ents received w e cannotguarantee thatw e w illbe

able to give you a tim ely response.W hen posting a question,please be very clear and concise.
W e thank you for understanding!
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How To Protect Worksheets and Unprotect Excel Sheet Without Password

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How to protect worksheets and unprotect Excel sheet without password https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/2016/02/10/protect-unpro...

HO M E PRO D U CTS D O W N LO AD S SU PPO RT BLO G ABO U T U S PU RCH ASE

H ow to protectand unprotectExcelsheetw ith or w ithoutpassw ord

Excelw orksheetprotection -the basics om pare 2 colum ns in Excelfor

U nlock a protected w orkbook H ow to identify duplicates in

CO N CATEN ATE in Excel:com bine

protection H ow to Vlookup to return

Rem ove duplicate em ails in

exam ple by using our passw ord generating tool.

3. Protectthe w orkbook structure to preventother people from adding,m oving,renam ing,

2. In the ProtectSheetdialog w indow ,do the follow ing:

Ifthe w orksheetprotection is nothing m ore than a precaution againstaccidental

Select the actions you allow the users to perform .

To allow som e other actions such as sorting,ltering,form atting cells,deleting or inserting

Click the O K button.

H ow to unprotectExcelsheetw ith passw ord

O n theReview tab,in theChangesgroup,clickU nprotect Sheet.

H ow to unprotectExcelsheetw ithoutpassw ord

1. Press Alt+ F11 to open the VisualBasic Editor.

2. Right-click the w orkbook nam e on the leftpane (Project-VBAProjectpane)and selectInsert>

3. In the w indow thatappears,paste in the follow ing code:

Dim iAs Integer,jAs Integer,kAs Integer

On Error Resume Next

For i=65To 66:For j=65To 66:For k=65To 66

Copy the protected sheetcontents to another w orksheet

1. O pen the passw ord-protected sheet.

3. Press Ctrl+ C to copy the selected cells.

Ifthe passw ord-protected w orksheethas externallinks to other sheets or w orkbooks,you

H ow to protecta w orkbook in Excel

To protectthe w orkbook,perform the follow ing steps:

1. O n theReview tab,in theChanges group,clickthe Protect W orkbook button.

2. U nderProtect w orkbook for,selectone ofthe tw o options,or both:

Check theStructure box to protectthe structure ofa w orkbook.This w illpreventthe

View ing hidden w orksheets.

Renam ing,m oving,hiding or deleting sheets.

M oving or copying sheets to another w orkbook.

N ote.The W indow s option is notavailable (greyed out)in Excel2013 and Excel2016,as

3. In the Passw ord box,type a passw ord,and click the O K button.

H ow to unlock a protected w orkbook in Excel

2. Type the passw ord ifprom pted.

3. Save the w orkbook.

Passw ord protectExcelw orkbook from opening

By default,M icrosoftExceluses AES 128-bitadvanced encryption,and you can supply a

4. Save your w orkbook.

Passw ord protectExcelw orkbook from m odifying

2. In the Tools drop-dow n m enu,selectG eneralO ptions.

5. Finally,click the Save button in the Save As dialog.

H ow to create form ulas in Excel

M icrosoftExcelform ulas w ith exam ples

H ow to display form ulas in Excel

H ow to copy form ulas in Excel

H ow to hide and lock form ulas in Excel

H ow to edit,evaluate and debug form ulas in Excel

Excelform ulas notw orking,notupdating,notcalculating

103 Responses to "H ow to protectand unprotectExcelsheet

2 A CHUM AN KUM AR PATRO says:

how to unprotected the w ork book ifpassw ord is forget.

Svetlana Cheusheva says:

Yogesh Garg says:

3 A CHUM AN KUM AR PATRO says:

w ithoutany softw are can w e have unprotected w orkbook

thanks for cooperate w ith m e

its aw esom e.....itw orked perfectly w ell