Keeping your files secure is a nice step but in case you forget the password, you will lose your data. We all are familiar with how frequently excel files are used to store important data. Most of the people wish to secure their confidential data by encrypting either the entire workbook or a particular sheet of the excel file. Unfortunately, if you forget the password, you need not panic. You can recover your file. What if you want to remove the password from the excel file? Can you do it? Yes, there are some methods through which you can easily remove the password. You would not be able to recover the password but can remove the password.
How to Remove Password from Excel File
Method 1: Remove Excel Worksheet Password
Before we start with the process, it would be safe to take a backup of your spreadsheet. However, data has nothing to do with the process but still taking a precautionary step would be a better idea.
Start with renaming the extension of your file from “.xlsx to zip”
While changing the extension make sure that you have turned on the file extension option under view section in case you are not able to see file extension of your files.
Step 1: Right-click on the file and select the rename option. Click on yes when prompted.
Step 2: Now you need to extract the zip files data by using any file compressor software. There are various software such as 7 zip, WinRAR, etc available on the internet.
Step 3: After the extraction of the files, you need to locate the “xl” folder.
Step 4: Now find out the “Worksheets” folder and click on it to open.
Step 5: Under the Worksheet folder, you will find out your spreadsheet. Open the spreadsheet with Notepad.
Step 6: If you have a single worksheet under your spreadsheet, it will be easier for you to go ahead. However, in case you have multiple files saved, you need to open every single file in Notepad and check for:
<sheetProtection algorithmName=”SHA-512″ hashValue=”x9RyFM+j9H4J3IFFhsHo3q1kQkuLydpJlLh2mdvfvk15He/Yps8xizWt/XkAJ//g+TyqgcU+8o1QBjQvKDqIzg==” saltValue=”57YXDPnVjawU5s1nGyT8fQ==” spinCount=”100000″ sheet=”1″ objects=”1″ scenarios=”1″/>
Note: “HashValue” and “salt value” will be different on your file.
Step 7: Now you need to delete the entire line starting from <sheetprotection….to =1/>.
Step 8: Finally save your .xml file. You need to follow step 4 for every .xml file and save all of them. Add these files back to your zip folder. In order to add modified .xml files back, you need to ensure that you have a file compression software program open on the system. Now you need to browse back where you have saved your modified files and save it on the zip folder using the file compression software.
Step 9: Rename your file extension back to .xlsx from zip. Finally, all your files are unprotected and you can easily open them.
Also Read: What is an XLSX file & How to open XLSX File?
Method 2: Remove Excel Password Protection Manually
If you want to remove excel password protection manually, these below mentioned steps will help you.
Step 1: Open excel from All programs menu or type Excel in the search box.
Step 2: Click File and navigate to the Open section. Click on the password protecting excel file.
Step 3: Type the password and open the file.
Step 4: Click on the “File” then “Info” then Click on Encrypt with password.
Step 5: Remove the password from the box and leave the box empty. Finally, click on the save.
Method 3: Remove Password with Excel Password Remover
There are some excel password remove programs also available online. If you want to bypass the above-mentioned method of unprotecting your excel file, you can opt for the method to remove password with excel password remover
This website gives you a pro and free version of the excel password remover option. You will get complete information about how it works on this website. It is a simple and user-friendly website that helps you to remove forgotten passwords of your excel file.
Method 4: Remove the Password while saving the Excel file
In this method, you will get to know how to remove excel password while saving your excel file with “save as” feature. This method will only work if you already know the password of your excel file and want to remove it for further use. To remove, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Open password-protected Excel file and Enter the password when prompt.
Step 2: Click the “File” tab in the top-left pane then click on the “Save As” option from the list.
Step 3: A “Save As” window will open. Click on the “Tools” drop-down then choose “General options” from the list.
Step 4: In the General Options, leave the “password to open” and “password to modify” field empty then click on OK and your password will be removed.
Now you will be able to open the excel file without entering the password.
Hopefully, the above-mentioned methods will help you to remove password protection from your Excel file as well as a worksheet. However, remember that important data needs to be secured, so keep your excel files password protected.