If you are one of those users who has to manage a lot of (numerical) data for your work, your shop, at home or elsewhere, the best organization of data can only and exclusively occur with the use of the Microsoft Excel program, ideal for spreadsheets. calculation and present in the Microsoft Office package.
Protecting your Excel files is equally important if you need to keep your personal and work data safe and away from prying eyes. But it often happens that the password you set for your Excel files is forgotten over time. This becomes a real problem because a password protected excel it no longer allows you to open and view the file or does not allow you to make changes. Luckily, there are solutions to this problem, solutions that will allow you to unlock password protected excelidentifying the password itself or removing it permanently.
How to Unlock Password Protected Excel
Solution #1. Unlock Password Protected Excel via VBA code
The best way to protect a worksheet is to enter a password, so that if someone opens the file, they will have to enter the correct password to gain access to the Excel file data. But the real nightmare begins when you forget the password that you entered yourself! Fortunately, there are myriad ways to recover Excel password and using VBA code. VBA code allows you to recover lost excel sheet passwords in minutes. Here are the detailed steps to follow:
Step 1: Open the Excel file that needs to be unlocked, and press the keys Alt + F11 to open the VBA window.
Step 2: Choose the option that says Insert followed by the form.
Step 3: When the general window opens you need to insert the following VBA code
Here is the code that you can copy and paste into the VBA editor window:
Sub Passwordbreaker()
Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer
Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer
Dim il 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 il = 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(il) & 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(il) & 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
Step 4: Click on “Run”–>”Run Sub” or press the F5 key to start the newly created macro
Step 5: After a few seconds the code will create the worksheet password and you should be able to see a small window with the excel file password. You can write it on a piece of paper and use it to unlock your worksheet.
That’s all. Very easy, right?
NOTE: The method described above only works with cut sheets. If you have multiple worksheets that need to be unlocked, you need to run this code multiple times opening each sheet manually!
Solution #2: Unlock Password Protected Excel with Excel Password Recovery
Here is a second method that will be very useful for unlocking your Excel and recovering the password that is preventing you from accessing the data. What you need is to download the program Excel Password Recovery, which is a tool that can bypass your excel password without losing or damaging the original data. The program uses the “brute-force attack” method to recover the Excel lock password without touching anything in the internal data. Below are the steps to follow to make the best use of this program.
First download and install the software on your PC (Windows):
Install and launch the program. Here is the main interface of Excel password recovery.
As indicated in the figure above, click on the button at the top left to select and import the Excel file you wish to unlock.
After importing the XLS/XLSX file, select the type of “password recovery” to perform from the right:
Leave it set “Bruce Force” if you have no idea about the password that has been set on that excel file.
Finally click on at the top START and let the program start searching for the protection password:
Be patient in this phase because it may take several hours for the program to find the password. Once found, the software will ask you to purchase the license to make the found password visible.
With the password found you will finally be able to unlock your Excel file and you will once again have full control of your data. This time though, if you enter another lock password, be careful not to forget it!!
