EASILY UNLOCK Protected Excel Sheets WITHOUT Password

[@LeilaGharani]

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[@lolaken12345]

Is this method applicable to unlocking the VBA password?

[@MrAliurrehman]

Hey Leila. How to open an Excel Sheet which is password protected and you don't know the password?

[@pierrepl1272]

Will this work on a XLSM file?

[@SiBex_ovh]

​@@pierrepl1272 XLSM works too but I must do that for all sheets, not only one.

[@binilabraham8943]

Thank you soo much.. this was so helpful

[@markrodgers4615]

Holy COW!!! I've had a locked spreadsheet that I've used for EIGHT YEARS!!! The person who created it disappeared and NO ONE in my organization knows the password. BUT I JUST UNLOCKED IT WITH YOUR VIDEO LEILA!!!! Omg everyone is going to be blown away that I figured this out and all i did was follow these steps. Not hard at all.

[@LeilaGharani]

Good job, Mark! Glad the video was helpful.

[@SuryoyoEntertainment]

Will you have all the formulas in the excel sheets? will they work?

[@knldgispwr]

I can’t begin to tell you how many hours you have saved me. I asked the coworker for an unprotected workbook of his so that I can begin making updates for Fiscal Year 2023. His response was “not my sheet, don’t have a blank unprotected one, sorry”. I knew that I could do this but I couldn’t remember what to do after the zip portion. I am subscribing to your channel in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Thank you so much. 😁

[@EKUTAN1]

Learning with Leila is fun. Seriously, I told my employer that l am expert in all MS suite. Well l am not, this is where I come to learn. You have been a life saver for me. Thanks again sweet lady.

[@syedazher6316]

I had made a excel sheet about a year and half ago. and of course I had forgotten the protection password. I had to make some minor changes to the sheet as per my colleague request, and I was not able to do it. I googled it and your video was on TOP. and after getting the job done in 3-4 minutes , I know now why your spot was on the top :) 😊. Great work Leila, Thanx

[@jamesmason4420]

Oh my goodness... this video was a total life saver... I had a document used for our companies scheduling system for over 800 employees... I needed to make a change to the formula sheet and couldn't remember the password as the document was a couple years old... Crazy grateful!!!

[@LeilaGharani]

Super happy to hear that!

[@SreenikethanI]

Damn, from an Excel point of view, this "Sheet protection" concept seems to be useless for proper security, unless we just want it to restrict and guide the user in general! Amazing video!

[@Tianablue1]

I found this exact method a few years back on KZbin when I forgot the password of one of my own sheets, but this video explained it much better and always great to have a reminder! :)

[@anoopsabnani1380]

Hi Leila, this was SUPER !! We had a team member who left and refused to give us the worksheet password....this method worked amazingly well.....

[@themissinfowar6629]

Nope. Not gonna do it.... still not going to give you the password.

[@rlalthantluanga]

Anoop, send him a copy of the unprotected file. 😆

[@nathanielaboagye2259]

@@rlalthantluanga or a copy with a different password 😂😂

[@samuelorozco3439]

11.19 PM, after spending about 20 min trying to follow a guide that suggested this method (didn't work). I watch your video, instant success. Thank you thank you, Leila!

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped.

[@stephenkaras1523]

Leila you are the best!!! I was just handed a ton of work to repair in an XL spread sheet and the sheet with all the work was password protected. Just came to your KZbin page and found this clip. You continually save the day!!

[@IvanSrb]

I forget my coworkers passwords all the time. Thanks!

[@Vandalfoe]

I lolled. 👍

[@tdmap2241]

😂

[@nattravel]

😊😊😊

[@Meekomix]

Hahaha!

[@Maazazad]

I literally cried laughing! Good one!

[@seapacificdesign]

Excellent work Leila! A quick note to say that you have to follow the steps EXACTLY as Leila mentions otherwise your file will get corrupted. If your file is on a Sharepoint site you will need to download it to your computer first, make a copy, rename it and when the task is complete you can upload it back to Sharepoint and it will not conflict with the previous file.

[@russraimer736]

Leila, Fantastic presentation! Short and sweet! Been watching a number of your videos - thought I knew a lot about Excel - finding out there is SO MUCH more to learn! Curious how you became so knowledgeable about Excel.

[@richardcarter445]

Wow thank you! I cant believe this actually works. I remember ages ago googling for ages to try and unlock a file but could only find apps to try and brute force the password. This solution is great!

[@carolynklaus4047]

Leila Gharani I love you! This is the third time I have forgotten the password for a worksheet--and the other times were long enough ago that I had forgotten what to do. But this time I knew right where to go--your KZbin video! Very quickly, I'm back in business. Thank you ever so much!!!!!

[@lathikapreethi9276]

You always stand out from other Excel experts and Trainers! Amazingly inspiring video!

[@romulusmilea2747]

This is great, I have done that some time ago, it worked perfectly. One suggestion for Notepad (when you found and deleted the protection): it could be useful to use Format menu, then Word Wrap, text will be re-arranged within the page width, it could be easier to see. To be honest, the way you presented it is better, because that protection start tag, and end tag are on the same line (word wrapping might move end tag to another line). One more thing: it would be useful to create another video with removing the protection for the workbook (structure). Do you agree ? Thank you.

[@Ensavoirmoins]

Thank you Leila for this great channel. Compared to similar YT channel, you have a great sense of organization, you pay attention to the smallest details, and the way you present the toughest subject makes it easy to everyone to understand regardless of his/her level of mastery, and this is what I like about the channel. All the best.

[@Salam_Damai431]

Greetings from Indonesia, Sister. This video was made two years ago, but keeps on giving. You saved me a lot of time today. Thank you. Peace be with you, Sis. Now and always.

[@theyippikiyo]

i received an excel workbook that was beautifully designed and way above my abilities. i wanted to see the formulas and how the creator made it work but it was locked up tight. thanks to your video, i was able to unlock it and admire the handiwork. i am definitely adding some of these formulas to my toolbox!

[@howardnemerov1849]

Thank you Leila! Great step-by-step walkthrough. Fortunately, Windows 10 now handles zip natively, so I was able to edit without an extra utility. Also, a warning to those with multi-tab workbooks: You have to search every "zipped" XL file. I found some that had "protect" and some that didn't. To unlock the workbook, I had to search them all and edited about half before I could access all cells.

[@KnightsMultiMediaCapeTown]

you have exposed a secret Microsoft has hidden for a long time. the xlsx file is just a renamed zip file. nicely done. there is actually more that can be done while till in xlm format.

[@GanonTEK]

I found out about this a few weeks ago as there was a link to another Excel file I couldn't remove and I couldn't find where it was. Turns out a range I copied over had a defined name and it linked the defined name to the original Excel file. The original file name in the formula for the defined name doesn't get removed it you try to break link or set the current Excel file as the target. One of the xml files showed all the links and I figured it out from that. It's kind of funny thinking it's a .zip

[@renetherock1]

I mainly use sheet protection to prevent somebody to break formulas so it's far from a bad thing to be able to remove sheet protection if we end up forgetting the password. Sometimes I protect the sheet without keying a password. The cells that I want to protect from being erased are still protected but you don't need password that you will probably forget in the future :) The main goal of protecting a sheet (or specific cells in a sheet) is mainly usefull to prevent some random co-worker to break things by clicking everywhere :)

[@parashshrestha6418]

Great works fine.love it. Was so stressed as i had to takeover my senior position and continue her job. She had protected all the master files. Thanks a lot

[@stuartgraham26]

Many thanks for this step by step guide Leila. I locked a workbook at work to stop someone changing and some weeks later, forgot that I had done this. I was unable to add extra sheets, this video guide has just saved me so much time and effort. PS, I have enjoyed and learnt a lot from many of your other videos

[@AtlanticZealot]

I learned some things here, thanks! It looks like the sheet file sizes are also displayed when opening the file as a zip file - I might try that to troubleshoot huge excel files to see which sheets could use some cleaning

[@dragonwario23]

You're amazing. I've been needing this for weeks and you just solved it in a couple of minutes. Thank you so much. Keep it up with the great content.

[@Macron87]

Google?

[@itorres008]

Something that may help is using an editor that handles XML files instead of notepad or other plain text editor. It will present the file formatted nicely with line breaks and indentations and it will be easier to select just what you want to delete.

[@bladehenge63]

An absolute lifesaver. Inherited a password protected file from a coworker who retired w/o leaving their notes and this saved me from having to remake the whole workbook from scratch!

[@kathyloveless4570]

Great job of explaining! I was frustrated by receiving a necessary file at a large corporation that had been locked and no one seemed to know how to unlock it. I spent days going round and round looking for the password to no avail. Your fix had me up and working within the hour (there were a lot of sheets in my file). Great job!

[@penelopechiu4171]

This was so helpful and easy to follow! Straight to the point and worked! Very well done. Thank you so much!!!

[@fozman1959]

Brilliant - just helped me solve a problem with a client's spreadsheet

[@kylemacarthur9863]

I hope you are working for the "good guys" because that was powerful.

[@LeilaGharani]

Only for the good guys 😊

[@hhattingh]

Lolz! True

[@andor888]

Do you actually think there are hackers out there wanting to change values in your excel sheets or something? Like, who are the bad guys she could work for in this scenario?

[@knownsensesocialmedia7618]

She only works for me lol

[@SW-qr8qe]

That was too easy

[@kaustubh488]

Beautiful, I had been struggling to unlock one of my worksheet for last 4 months and was hesitant to pay money to random sites for it.. this video was a game changer..

[@jackieo7113]

SHOUT OUT to Leila G! This works. FYI: I used 7-zip, had to right click and use "edit" or "F4" key. When I did that it automatically dump into notepad - so word to the wise: depending on which zip you use, it will have its own "way" of doing things. Another thing is, can be time consuming; I had 20 protected sheets. Was trying to do this while eating dinner and CORRUPTED the file 2x. 3rd's a charm, took an hour but I'd give an hour ANY day rather than recreating the doc....THANK YOU, LEILA!!!!

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped, Jackie!

[@nischalsingh438]

Hi Leila, anything for protected workbooks?

[@tutorials--1234]

if you used the file protection within Excel FILE>INFO>PROTECT WORKBOOK>ENCRYPT WITH PASSWORD then there is no way to bypass that since it is 256bit encryption. (well, you might break it with a ton of supercomputers and a few years of brute-forcing it!)

[@martinsrensen5049]

Do the same with the workbook.xml in the xl folder

[@JeanPierreWhite]

@@tutorials--1234 There are 3rd party tools that are pretty decent at hacking your way back in. They use lists of common passwords.

[@MirceaD28]

You can enter the Visual Basic Editor and protect the entire workbook. There is a menu with proprieties and has the Password field where you can add a password. After you save the VBA and the Excel file when it's opened again, nothing works in Excel and is all blue and it will prompt you the enter the password. After that all is activated.

[@jaehyi2009]

Wow, I didn't know how easy it was to override the protection set at Workbook and Worksheet levels... Thank you for the video!

[@vd9570]

overriding console apps is quite easy as they have a single password thread

[@khanshahnawaz3775]

Great work Leila ❤️... I think excel protect function is made primarily to ensure unintentional editing of data. So no harm in showing way to unprotect your excel file if you have forgot your password. For security purpose, you have laptop/ pc login password.

[@carolynklaus4047]

Leila, you are a lifesaver! I have now forgotten my password twice, but the second time I remembered that you had helped me out of a jam the first time. Much less panic and remorse. Thank you ever so much!!!!

[@LeilaGharani]

You are so welcome, Carolyn!

[@harrydoroba4699]

Leila​@@LeilaGharani

[@manueldignard7842]

I have used this video often. Thank you sooo much for this. I don't need to "unprotect" my excel sheets often but when I do and I don't remember my password, this is definitely my go too.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rg80293]

It gives me error that windows can't open the file...it is invalid. What should I do now?

[@kurienillirickal7195]

Same invalid comes in windows 11

[@TylerStanczak]

I forgot all the time. Thanks for this helpful tutorial :)

[@surajnirankari7623]

Another amazing content 🔥

[@jayadevgyani]

Excellent tip for many who forget password for protected sheets! Kudos!

[@josephtsesay7279]

Oh!! Leila this video is self explanatory thanks for saving me a lot to redo a work that would have cost another another 5hours to redo everything but in less than 15minutes I was able recover all I needed. Bravo!!!

[@dimiargo]

This is fantastic. Thank you for sharing

[@Chifield]

How about if whole file/workbook is protected?

[@kiranvootori8101]

Idk. But you can extract files from the zip file and search for 'protect' in all the files. I am almost sure, you will find it somewhere.

[@tutorials--1234]

if you used the file protection within Excel FILE>INFO>PROTECT WORKBOOK>ENCRYPT WITH PASSWORD then there is no way to bypass that since it is 256bit encryption. (well, you might break it with a ton of supercomputers and a few years of brute-forcing it!)

[@kiranvootori8101]

@@tutorials--1234 This video is not about decryption. Just bypassing it.

[@Nhurgle]

@@kiranvootori8101 It's the workbook.xml file. Do the exact same thing as Leila said, go to "xl" folder and you will find the file. You do the search for "protect" and delete what you need.

[@shankaradi3195]

can you please explain Tips, if we have forgot the password for the workbook instead of sheets? I am not able to open the excel file itself :-( Thanks in advance

[@lindalor9284]

Read the top, pinned comment.

[@Kefth-h5n]

Leila, you "saved my life"...!!! Thanks for the support that you provide. Great Job...!!!

[@LeilaGharani]

You're welcome 😊

[@peterpackiaraj]

Super! really wonderful trick. i just got mad by losing a password for a sheet. tried so many methods but failed. your trick is simple and wonderful. thank you

[@mariostudio7]

This is next level tutorials! But tbh, I don't feel like my protected files are safe anymore

[@tamaradissanayake5552]

Hahahah, this is such a good tutorial.. Nothing is safe anymore..

[@GeertDelmulle]

They never were…

[@andrewmoss6449]

They were never safe. Excel's security is not military standard.

[@Tom_baz]

This doesnt work for password protected FILES, only password protected SHEETS. File are still safe, they cannot be cracked easily.

[@mariostudio7]

@@Tom_baz if that's true, it's relieving indeed. Even though deep down, now I am sure Leila knows a work around for that as well 😂

[@navjotsingh2251]

Leila, now that you have shown a core vulnerability in excel. You should make a follow up video, the correct way/tools too use in order to protect excel so peoole cant just view the xml and get your data!

[@thomasmarti76]

the most secure way to protect your Excel-file ist to protect it with the password to open it. simply save as... your file with the extended option with password. and use a save password with uppercase/lowercase, special characters and numbers.

[@marielbuenaventura0211]

Hello, please help. When i double clicked the zipped file, it says "The Archive Is Either In Unknown Format or Damaged Error" :( however the original file is not corrupted. I can't proceed from there. Please help.

[@thenoblegoatman9815]

I had the same issue. Another comment said to change it from .xls to .xlsx. I had to use .xlsm since mine had macros, but this worked for me.

[@clintmurphy72]

You saved me more time and frustration than I can even begin to describe. Ha! Thank you so much. I didn't forget the password, I had either had my fingers on the wrong keys or had a major mental breakdown last time I unlocked and relocked the sheet. I have no idea, but I'm happy to be able to use the sheet again. I cannot thank you enough!

[@LeilaGharani]

Happy to help, Clint!

[@joycealiling3037]

Amazing!! It really worked. I was trying to recover my password for few hours but nothing worked except this. Thanks a lot! YOu are such a huge help!

[@LeilaGharani]

Happy to help ☺️

[@kadirawadjr652]

thanks for sharing 🤘

[@celestinhirwandame5191]

it's amazing. Thanks Leila. what about the workbook?

[@mcmielnik]

use google and you'll find plenty of examples for workbook

[@lmata4246]

Hi Leila why is that in my part it doesn't work. after i turn it to zip file and double click it it says corrupted file ot not a valid zip file.

[@rialzito]

same here

[@jonskinkis8106]

Excellent video and explanation. Keep it up Leila. Just used your method and it works 100%.

[@romanperez26]

You saved my day today.... YOU ARE THE BEST Ms. Gharani!!!

[@volkerm2418]

I knew that Excel-protection was not that hard to get around. But I didn't expect it to be that easy. Ouch.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

Microsoft security at its zenith. Sigh.

[@Raison_d-etre]

Wait till you find out how to disable Windows login passwords. It's not as easy as it used to be, mainly due to boot changes, but still.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

@@Raison_d-etre I have such a boot CD lol

[@johngreene6783]

Nothing better than a gorgeous woman, who is also very intelligent

[@jasonluong3862]

So basically, Excel sheets are protected by a method known as security by obscurity. It’s not true encryption.

[@robertthomas5906]

It didn't say it was encrypted. It said it was protected. For most people that's good enough.

[@user-mma173]

There is a way to encrypt the workbooks and it is very difficult to break.

[@robertthomas5906]

@@user-mma173 If you want to encrypt the data then use a real encryption program such as pgp or better yet the free gnupg (gpg). Set the encryption to 4096. Otherwise you're just fooling yourself. Gpg will integrate right into outlook. It's awesome!

[@tutorials--1234]

Excel FILE>INFO>PROTECT WORKBOOK>ENCRYPT WITH PASSWORD then there is no way to bypass that since it is 256bit encryption.

[@robertcorwen4820]

@@tutorials--1234 Never say never.

[@blueribbons5701]

Excellent mam......... it works...... thank you....... Vazhga valamudan

[@andreslopez180]

Wow love this. As a project manager I use excel all the time, I don’t lock them but now I know how to unlock if I need to.

[@riteshpuley2891]

You actually found a bug in security.

[@johngreene6783]

That is what I was thinking

[@superlbc]

She didn't find it, this has been known since the start of the xlsx use back in 2007

[@foxbox7929]

Microsoft "security" has been a joke since 1990.

[@christoslefkimiotis9889]

exactly and now I fell that my files are not protected anymore. Still it was a good video.

[@riteshpuley2891]

Start using libreoffice suite for more security

[@slyh]

So basically a protected excel sheet doesn’t exist 😂

[@songokussj4cz]

The same with protected MACRO (can be the next video). Excel is not safe and it should be known...

[@mrmusicloverable]

@@songokussj4cz Not just excel. Most software out there can be hacked. You just need to know how.

[@Rice0987]

xlsb

[@johnlangford7032]

There is is no such thing as 100% security and MS word is similar

[@Rice0987]

@@johnlangford7032 read my commemt.

[@MrHappyZorro]

This will come in handy when employees leave bricked worksheets after they move on.

[@welm98]

I do not believe you can unprotect a file you did not create, unless you have overall admin rights to that employee's computer.

[@MrHappyZorro]

@@welm98 if the spreadsheet is protected against changes it seems practical. Not such for open privileges. I like the method shown here. Quicker than throwing the formulas into a VB array.

[@denzlemcdonald]

Leila, You are fantastic. I really needed this tutorial and this method has worked. Now my colleague can use her spreadsheet without any problems. 👏👏

[@cheryltovizi9213]

OMG, thank you so much. I had this same situation where forgot my password and had to recreate a complex spreadsheet from scratch as I couldn't find any solution even on Microsoft site. This would have saved me hours and a lot of tears along the way. Thank you

[@superlbc]

Next: how to force the lock of your own door if you forgot the keys inside...

[@kaljalavaofficial]

For that we have the LockPickingLawyer

[@BobTheTrueCactus]

I'm sure she has a makro for this

[@SpyroTek]

Use the brick through window extension.

[@robertthomas5906]

@@kaljalavaofficial LOL, He's probably already picked it.

[@willemkossen]

clearly you have to unzip your house first. Duh!

[@sandip_bettereveryday]

Is not it simple by just opening a protected Excel file in Google Sheets? And voila, the protection is gone!

[@wassimelmasri533]

Much easier

[@frankk.coopersr.4557]

Leila! My god. This has happened to me times without number. This video was a lifesaver. Thanks so much.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped!

[@fanmurk4408]

I applied the same on some protected word document.It worked like a charm. Cheers leila!!

[@luiscb69]

This worked for me really well, on a complex workbook with 20 plus worksheets, all of them protected, after the 3rd sheet I memorized all the steps on a keyboard. It saved me many many hours of work. Thank you very much. Liked and Suscribed

[@bevhales6951]

Absolutely brilliant Leila - thank you. I had my passwords but Excel wasn't recognising any of them. This was my last chance and worked really well. Thank you.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped!

[@mehboobrehman01]

Simply awesome, this is one of the most easiest hack I have found. Thx a lot Leila.

[@2LadyE]

Your instructions was easy to follow. You do a great job at teaching others how to use excel beyond the basics.

[@stephenyoung2638]

Thank you Mam, I'm a teacher from the Philippines, and it helped a lot. God bless you.

[@socotriansufi6697]

Thanx a lottttttt.......i forgot a very important file passphrase .......and all my data were unaccessible over there....this saved meeee Cheers and دمت گرم

[@marc-antoinerivet1232]

Whoa! It's working like a charm. Thank you!! ❤

[@vsferreira]

Hi Leila! Thank you very much for this tip. It saves me a lot of time. All the best for you! 🙂

[@SrMalgato]

Leila you saved me again!! thank you, I appreciate you and I am constantly recommending you to my friends.. Again thank you and God bless.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you for your support!

[@Animosity6792]

Great talk through once again Leila - tried to follow this through on a webpage but failed, nailed it first time following this through!

[@anujkalra1356]

My colleague quit and didn't tell anyone the password. Thanks a ton! Subscribed

[@sinnasamynaidu535]

I was able to unlock my worksheets locked with forgotten passwords using your clear instructions. Many thanks

[@michaeltao263]

It works! thank you for making this video clip and explain each step in very detail, it solved my headache on a very old excel file which I completely forget the password.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped!

[@sudeepkamath1810]

This totally works and is so easy! Thanks so much for this!

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad it helped!

[@basheerahsimon9371]

Wow, this really worked. I was really stressed, thank you.

[@RonaldLaguitan]

thank you so much work perfectly :) watching from Philippines

[@AW.RelaxingMusic]

You are the best Leila !!! Congrats, you saved me...

[@FernandoDantas-uo6wh]

Hi, greetings from Brasil! Perfect explanation, it works very well. Thanks.

[@steverod13]

Thank you leila worked perfectly 👍

[@vd9570]

Worked like a charm Danke

[@femoran]

amazing tip, I needed it urgently....I tested it and it worked....Great. Many thanks

[@LeilaGharani]

My pleasure!

[@anthonyheather9757]

WHAT AN EASY AND VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION TO A VERY HARD PROBLEM. I FOUND IT EASIER USING AN HTML EDITOR WHEN IT WAS TIME TO OPEN THE SHEETAND MAKE AND SAVE CHANGES.BUT IN ALL MANY THANKS FOR A GREAT SOLUTION

[@fahimreza1377]

Superb - it worked well. There are many but few works !! Thanks Leila !

[@LeilaGharani]

You're welcome!

[@mohsenakhavantabib9515]

Thank you so much Leila. Deeply Appreciated. This video help me to open the excel files with password.

[@jeet9016]

Thanks a ton! It saved a million efforts of mine !!