There are a lot of highlights in Microsoft Excel. And one such feature is to protect your excel records bookkeeping sheet, cells, or at the exercise manual level. Often, we want to protect our excel workbook with a password to secure the custom editing of our database.
But, when we have to update the file structure, it is vital to unprotect a workbook in excel. And in most cases, it's necessary to unprotect the excel exercise manuals to ensure that all the information changes are properly applied. There are several ways to unprotect a workbook in Excel. And in this article, you'll explore the quickest way to learn how to unprotect excel workbooks or exercise manuals without a secret phrase.
Option 1: Unprotect Excel Workbook with Excel Password Recovery tool
The Excel Password Recovery software from PassFab is successful at recovering Excel passwords. I have personally used it to recover Excel password. The program is free to download.
With PassFab for Excel, you don't need to worry about losing or forgetting passwords for Excel, as it enables you to recover Excel open passwords and remove Excel restriction passwords. Unprotecting Excel workbooks become so much easier for you!
Simple steps to unprotect Excel workbook:
- Click to download and install PassFab for Excel.
Click "Remove Excel Restriction Password".
Click "Add button" to import the protected Excel file.
Click "Remove" to start removing.
Now Excel restriction password has been removed and you can unprotect your Excel workbook.
Here is a video tutorial about how to unprotect Excel sheet without password, which is also working for Excel workbook:
Option 2: Unprotect Excel Workbook with Excel Password
This method is the most ideal yet easiest to know how to unprotect excel workbook. If you know the excel password of the protected workbook, then removing the password is just a piece of cake! Just follow the below-mentioned steps.
First of all, right-click on the worksheet tab and tap on "Unprotect Sheet" from the pop-up menu.
Now, in the "Changes Group," click on the "Unprotect Sheet" on the "Review tab."
After that, in the "Cells Group," click on the "Format" and tap "Unprotect Sheet" on the "Home tab" from the pop-up menu.
- Now, Excel will ask you to enter the password if you have a protected excel workbook.
- So, put in the password, and then click on "OK."
If the workbook is not protected, then click on "Unprotect Sheet", and you will unlock it. And you're all done with unprotect Excel Workbook without Password!
Option 3: Unprotect Excel Workbook from Opening
Microsoft Excel's info feature can allow us to remove the protected option from our workbook. However, you can also set a password through this option so that people who don't know your password can't access your account. And it is the best way to protect your data from others. So, to do so, you need to follow the below-mentioned steps.
Firstly, select "File > Info." And if your workbook contains a VBA code, you may find here a security warning. But, no need to panic.
Now, you've to select the drop-down arrow of "Protect Workbook" under the option, "encrypt with password."
- And here, you'll see a popup message with "Encrypt document."
Then, you'll see the 4-digit code that you've set before in the "Password box.
Next, remove the password field and then click on "OK."
- Now, tap on the "Select" button to save your excel workbook.
And lastly, exit your excel file from the right corner "Close" button.
So now, when you double-click on the excel file to open, you will find your excel workbook unprotected. And that's it! Thanks to our method, the Excel workbook is now unprotected with a password, which works perfectly! And that’s it! We hope you now know how to unprotect excel workbook.
Option 4: Unlock Workbook in Excel via Converting a File to Zip File
So, if you want to unlock the excel workbook, you can easily do it by converting your excel files to zip files. It compresses your files and takes up less space on your hard drive. And you can instantly share the zip files with others or even export them to other devices. Also, you can quickly zip your excel file in Windows directly from the file explorer. And the best thing is you don't need a third-party tool to do so.
The following steps will help you convert excel files to zip files.
- Firstly, you need to change the excel file name extension.
And to do so, right-click on the file you want to convert and tap "Rename."
Now, rename the file name extension from (.xlsx) to (.zip).
After that, right-click on the zip file, tap on "7-zip," and then open archives.
- And here, you need to click on the file name "XL" and tap on the file name "worksheet."
- Next, right-click on the "worksheet" you need to unprotect. And then tap on "Edit."
Now you need to find the "Coding lines" like the below picture and remove them.
So click on the "File" and tap "Save" to save your excel file. And now close the file.
- Lastly, right-click on the zip files and tap on "Rename" to change the file name extension from (.zip) to (.xlsx).
Now, open your excel file, and you will find your excel workbook unprotected. And as you have made a zipped file within the same folder, you will see a file with the same name but with a "ZIP" extension. Also, it is an optional setting, but it can be changed if you wish. And you're all done with unprotecting Excel Workbook without Password.
Final Notes
As we know, the use of password protection in Microsoft Excel is widespread in the workplace to safeguard sensitive information. But there are times when we need to unprotect the Excel workbook. In any case, making a password backup is highly recommended if you rely heavily on Excel spreadsheets.
And using this guide, you can quickly yet easily unprotect an Excel worksheet or workbook. So, this is all about how to unprotect an excel workbook without a password. And I tried my best to provide you with the easiest yet best possible ways to solve the query on how to unprotect Excel workbook.
Hopefully, you followed all the steps mentioned above carefully, and this guide is helpful for you in some way! Now you don't need an expert to unprotect Excel Workbook without Password, as you can do this on your own.